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THE 



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COmSCATM OF ULSTER, 



IX THE REIGN OF JAMES THE FIBST, 



COMMONLT CALLED 



THE ULSTER PLANTATION 



BY THOMAS MAC NEVIN, 

AtrxHOR OF "the hisiobt of the yolvntesss of 1783/ 



** Foreaedng that Ireland most be the stage to act upon, it beiji^ 
unsettled, and many forfeited lands therein altogether wasted, they 
concluded to push for fortunes in that kingdom. "" 

Montgomery Afanutcripts. 



DUBLIN : 

pu:blished by jamje^s duffy, 

10, WEElilKGTON QUAY. 

LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL AND CO., 

STATIONERS' HALL COURT. 

1846. 



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HARVARD 
UNIVERSITY 
LIBRARY , 

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DUIUN : 

STBRCOTYPCO AND PRINTSD BY T. COLDWBLL; 

50, CAPBL-BTBBBT. 



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CQ1TE5TS. 



PAGE. 

Chapter I. Accession of James the First — ^Act 
of Oblivion — ^Extension of English Law to Ire- 
land — Persecution of Roman Catholics — ^Risings 
in Waterford and Cork— Spies set upon the Great 
Earl - . - - - - 13 

Chapteb II. The Sham Plot — ^Different versions 
of the Plot— FUght of Tyrowen— His Death at 
Rome — Proclamation of James — Rebellion of 
O'Dogherty 31 

Chapter III. The Spirit of Plantation— At- 
tempted Plantation of Sir Thomas Smith — of Earl 
of Essex — The War of Desmond — Munster Paci- 
fied — Plantation of Munster — Settlement of the 
Montgomeries in the Ardes of Down . - 49 

Chapter IV. Plans for the Great Plantation- 
Bacon's Plan — State of Ireland — Character of the 
Irish People - - - - - 87 

Chapter V. Project of Plantation submitted to 
the English Privy Council — Orders and Condi- 
tions to be observed by the Undertakers — Com- 
mission to inquire into '* tlie King's Title" to the 
Escheated Principalities — Orders and Instructions 
to tlie Commissioners of Division ^ - - 1 19 

A 



VI CONTENTS. 

PAG£. 

Chapter VI. Picture of Ulster—Tables of the 
Escheated Property — Takmg seizin - - 153 

Chapter VII. How it happened that the Mer- 
cers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, 
Skinners, Merchant Tailors, Haberdashers, Salt- 
ers, Ironmongers, Vintners, and Clothworkers of 
London became Irish Landless — The Irish So- 
ciety—The Creation of Baronets - - - 208 

Chapter VUI. The Parliaments of 1613, 1614, 
1615— .The battle for Speakership— Attainder of 
the Traitors- 238 



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LIST OF AUTHORITIES QUOTED AND 
RElfERRED TO. 

Annals of the Four Masters. 

Bacon's Works. 

Beaumont De, Irelande Sociale, Politique et Religieuse. 

Betham's Antiquarian Researches. 

Belfast, Historical Collections of. 

Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws. 

Boate's Natural History of Ireland. 

Boderie*s Despatches to Henry IV. of France. 

Borlase's Reduction of Ireland. 

Butler's Memoirs of the Catholics. 

Cambrensis Eversus by Lynch. 
Camden's Elizabeth. 
Cooke's History of Party. 
Campion's Irish Historic. 
Clarendon's History of the Rebellion. 
Curry's Civil Wars of Ireland. 

Dayies*s Historical Tracts. 
Dodd's Ecclesiastical History. 
Dubardieu's Account of Antrim. 

Groldsmith's Animated Nature. 

Hallam's Constitutional History. 
Harris's B^emiea. 
Hibernica Curiosa Desiderata. 
Hume's History of England. 

Inquisitions, Book of, in the reigns of James I. and 
Charles I. 

Kane's Industrial Resources. "^' ^^' '' Google 

King's History of the Irish Church. 



VUl LI8T OF AUTHORITUES. 

Lascelles' Res Gestae Anglomm in Hibemica. 
Leland's History of Ireluid. 
Lingard's History of England. 
Lodge's Irish Peerage by Archdall. 
Lodge's Geneaology of the British Peerage. 

Mac Geoghegan's History of Ireland. 
Madden's United Irishmen. 
Mac Skimmin's Carrickfergos. 
Milner's Inquiry about Ireland. 
Mitchel's Life and Times of Hugh O'Neill. 
Moore's History of Ireland. 
Montgomery Manuscripts. 
Murray's Ireland and her Church. 

O'Connell's Memoir on Ireland. 
Ordnance Memoir of Deny. 

Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the Commonwealth. 
Patent Rolls of James and Charles the First. 
Playfair's Family Antiquity. 
Political Dictionary. 
Pynnar's Survey. 

Reid's History of the Irish Presbyterian Church. 

Selden's Works. 

Shirley's Dominion of Famey. 

Smith's (Sir Thomas,) Commonwealth. 

Smith's History of Cork. 

Smith's History of Waterford. 

Smyth's Ireland Statistical and Historical. 

Spenser's View of the State of Ireland. 

State Papers in the time of Henry VIII. 

Stuart's History of Armagh. 

Taylor's Civil Wars of Ireland. 
Temple's History of the Irish Rebellion. 

Wallingford's Anglia Sacra. 
Warner's History of Ireland. 



I have given this list of authorities, which I have 
repeatedly examined, to serve as a guide to the study of 
the most interesting period of Irish history. 



TO 

SIE ROBERT KANE, 



Mr DsAR Sn Robert, 

I beg to iiucribe thki Book wUh your dbtiaguiBhed 
iiam»— distliigiiialied tor the most signal and motfe endiiring aervlees 
to yonr country. 

Toon if the trnett patriotim. Yon hart tanght ua 
practically to aj^redato the wealth of our ftrttle aoO, onr minea^ and 
oar riren ; and how we can heat avail ooraelTes of the great natural 
treaanreaoffhiB idand. 

Tour labours for your country hare confierred taiflnito 
advantages upon ^er, tiie most valoable acqnlaltiona on sdentlflc and 
industrial Knowledge, and disMngtdshed honoor on yourself. 

In addition to your nnmeroos titles to public gratitude, 
on me yoa have the hin^est claims of any, namely, of linoenesteem 
and friendship ; and allow me to remaric that I should not have pre- 
sumed to select your name, with which to inscribe my page, if I did 
not fed conscious that I had not any intention of teaching, in this 
book, agrarian doctrihi^ which I abhor and contemn. The selection 
of sodL a name to my answer to any one who charges me with preach- 
ing a resumption <tf estates— a thing morally dishonest and legally 
impossible.* 

Yours, Ac. &c. 

THOMAS MAC NEVIN. 
26, Summer-haiy Dublui, 

» The idea of making tttlc at this time of day is ridiculous. 

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SiNCB this Work went to press the House of Lords ha 
afllrmed a decision of Lord Longdate in the Rolls, in th( 
case of The Skinners' Company againtt the IrUh Society 
The principle ^ the decision is this, that the Irish So 
ciety is a trustee of the Crown and of the City of Londor 
only for puhlic and political purposes, and thatalthougl 
it is hound to dlride the surplus remaining in hands 
after working out these purposes, amongst the Londoi 
Companies — Grocers, Fishmongers, Drysalters — yet nr 
single Company has a right to an account from the So 
eiety. It waa a decision on grounds of technical equity, 
haTing no general interest, except so far as the histor} 
•f the Plantation was introduced. It ha« certainl; 
given unlimited powers of extravagant expenditure ii 
tavern hills and traveUing expenses, and the like, to th< 
Society — Reports of Cases adjudged in the Bolls* Cour 
during the time of Lord Zangdale, by Charles Beavan 
vol. vii., ipart iii., p. 593. See Chanter VII. of thi 
Work. 



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THB 



CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 



CHAPTER I. 

AeeessioB of JameB ttte Fint— Act of Obliyioii — Exten- 
non of the English law to Irdand— Fenecution of 
Boman Catholics — Risings in WateHtord and C<^-— 
0ples set upon the Great Eari. 

O9 the 5th April, 1603, James the First ascended 
the throne which had been just vacated by one 
Off the ablest sovereigns that ever wielded the 
English soeptre. Surrounded by a nation <k 
courUerSy his progress to London was a continual 
triumph. He was received with the wildest 
transports; and the people hurried from all sides, 
with unreflecting loyahy, to welcome to his throne 
the first of the Stuarts. 

No English monarch had commenced his reign 
under better auspices. The despotic genius of 

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14 THE C0KPI8CATI0N OF UL8TBR. 

kis predecessor had removed every difficulty of 
government in England, and James's title, thoagh 
far from being unquestionable, was freely ad- 
mitted by the people. The vices of his character 
had not yet disclosed themselves ; and a tumul- 
tuous joy hailed the accession of one of the worst 
and weakest of the English kings. 

And in Ireland James was the first monarch 
who enjoyed entire dominion. After a war of 
several years' duration, in which the English 
power was nearly destroyed, and in "which Eng- 
land triumphed only by the profound policy of 
Mountjoy, Hugh O'Neill* had submitted to do 
homage to the crown, and tp waive the hereditary 
honours of his name for the title of an English 
earL But Elizabeth, to whom the merit of the 
conquest of Ireland ig justly attributed, did not 
live to enjoy her own success.. The capitulation 
with Hugh O'Neill was not signed until after 
her death, and probacy would n^ver have been 

* Hngii O'Neill, created Earl of Tyrowen by EKfca- 
beth, was son of Mathew of Dunganuon, who was son 
of Conn O'Neill the Lame. The latter was, the first 
O'Neill who accepted an English earldom. tlJonn had 
other sons, and one of them was a most distinguished 
chieftain of Tyrowen, John the Proud. On the death 
Of John, "tirlogh Lynnogh O'Neill was invested with the 
Principality of Tyrowen, hut Hugh having made inter- 
est widi Elizabeth, obtained both the lands and earidom, 
some provision having been made for the security and 
well-being of Tirlogh Lynnogh. After Hugh's invest* 
ment, he shortly threw off his foreign honours, as- 
ifumed the anddtrt title of •* The O'Neill," and led his 
countrymen, through the course of a lon^ and brilHiMit 
war, against the EMlish. His biography is fully and most 
Aoqtuently told in Mitchd'd "Lif^of Hugh O'NeiU." 

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TBIB CONFISCATION OF ULSTITR. 15 

coBcluded bjr the Irish Chief if he hsd been 
ftware of the femoral of bis formidable enemy. 
This was, however, wisely concealed by the Lord 
D^uty until CNeiirs submission was complete ; 
and thus it was reserved for Jaines to enjoy the 
fruits of a conquest achieved by the wisdom and 
policy of his predecessor. 

Hugh O'Neill and Roderiek O'Donnell* were 

^Boflerick CDouDell, Earl of Tyfconnell, and chieftain 
of tile aadent race of Tyrcoonell (now Donegal) was bro- 
ther of one of the most remarkable men of his day, 
Bugl Eoe O'DonneU, or Bed Hugh O'Donnell. Bed 
HugL , well knowing the cd&parative merit of the men, 
tnarched his army into Tyrowen, and compelled Tir- 
logh Lynnogh tl> resign the principality of Tyrowen in 
favour of Bugfa O'Keill. He carried on incessant war 
against the English and their allies. He defeated Sir John 
Norris, Earl of Kildare, and Lord Burrows, and assisted 
Hugh O'Neill in defeating and killing Marshal Bagenal 
at the Battle of the Yellow Ford on the Blackwater. 
Three of these English geuends w«re killed <m the -field 
of battle. He marched with Hugh O'Neill to relieve 
Einsale in 1602, where these two distinguished friends 
dlfiered about the honour of leading the attack upon the 
; English ; the consequence was, a want of concert amongst 
the troops, and the irreparable destruction of the Irish 
' league against Elizabeth. After the defeat before Kin- 
gale, Hugh O'DonneU went to Spain to induce Philip to 
ipYgdi^ Ireland. He fared badly in this mission, and 
worn iput with vexation of spirit and the fatigues of war, 
fie died at Simancas. near Valladolid, 10th September, 
1,601. , Bis brother Boderick was created Earl of Tyr- 
,Qon|ieJ by patent of 29th September, 1603. The King's 
^fetter creating Boderick earl, is a valuable historical 
documie^ md will be found in Sir William Betham*s 
• vmm'i of the O'ltaiweUi^ P- 185 of his 4ntiqwinan 
'^JStfS^jmch^y ^w|t L After his flight with Hugh O'NeiB 
he ?f;a*. attaint^ yrith his brother Calv^gh. He die4 at 
Borne 28th July, 1617, and was buried in Jihe Abbey ox 

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16 THE CONFISCATION OF UL8TBB. 

carried to London in a state of honourable cap« 
liyitf ; a fonmdabk esooll attend^ them on 
their joumej, not io ceflect lostre on theiif arri*- 
val Irat to protect them from the Tindicttve fvty 
of the people, who could scarcelj be williheld 
from laying violent hands upon those ** wicked 
and Mugrateful traitors bj whose rebellion » 
inany of their friende had fallen.'** 

Their reeeptu>n at the court was of a flattering 
description ; they were wekomed by James witA 
marks of distinguished favour ^f Roderick O'Don-^ 
nell was created Earl of' Tyreonnell; Hugh 
O'Neill was coBgrmed in his fiarkkmi of Tyr^ 
owen, apd in all his properties and possessions ; 
the submission of the leaders in.' the great war 
was c<»nplete and uores^rred, and all was pre- 
pared ^' for a final establisbsent of the English 
power upon the basis of equal laws aad eivilized 
customs*"! 

James's first measures were eonisliatory. He 
published au A^^ of ObUTiOB and Ittdemnity 1^ 
proolamaU<A under the great seal, whereby all 
ofieiK^ against the Crown, and all offences 
amongst subjects, committed before his access 
sion were pardocied and eztinguidied, iie?e^ 

St. Francis. A branch of this illostiloaB feii^^ is se^ 
tied in Spain, of which are the Conde de Abi^al anil 
his brothers. Anothw CVDonnell married a princess of 
Cantucacine, one of the descendants of the Qteek Siu^ 
perors of Constantinople and Trebisonde.— 4Str W, Be-^ 
thanCs Ant. Res, p. Id2. 

• Leiand'fl ** History of IreUttid,'' vol. 2, p. 417. 

t "He (Tyrowen) was gradonsiy received by ^ 
king, and returned with honours/'->£orAiM, p. 184. 

t Hallam's '* ConstitutkmHl History," voL 3, p. 469. 

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THE CONFISCATION OP ULSTER. 17 

%a he mv\v^ cv called Into fttitber question.* 
T1m3 peasftiils, tiHeiB <»f Hie soil, mecbanics, and 
i|^t£ans» kkhefsiOf as Zieland says, left tinder the 
tt/r^mj of their chieftaine^ were received into 
l|ke king^s immediate protection. If we «re to 
hj^ieve the flatterer of James, hi^ measures 
were of such la nature, and bred sodi comfoH 
and seeuritj in the hearts of all «ien, as that 
l^ei^et^Qii ensued the cahi^st and ftiost universal 
peace that ever was seen in Ireland.f Sheriffs, 
1^6 first of those officers oi BngMsh law that 
ev^ a^bnkuatered its provimons in the old prin- 
cipalities 4)f O'Neill and CyDotmell^ were ap- 
pointed in counties which had owned the su- 
premaej of the two ^reat Nortisem ehtefkins.^ 
Tyroifi^li and Tyreonnell were converted into 
8^^il$l0» a^ the tmritorial divisions of baronies and 
counties became universal over Ulster ; Judges 
of Jissise b^ld their circuits in every quarter; 
ai^ Slit Edmund Felham accompanied by Sir John 
Djavies visited, in their judicial capacity, all the 
C(^intieB in the North, a visitation, as the latter 
quaint]^ re^narks, which, though distasteful to 
tii^ {rish^I(»!<ds^ " was sweet and most welcome to 

f SlRjohoBftviffli'^ Causes," p. 196, Diihlined. 1737. 

fiMd.p. urr. 

i/&460^. Sir Geoege Carey, TreftBurer at War, June 
1, wm W»M IJord B^ttty ; be, in the first year of his 
ini^j0g^* r^gDy made tiie first eherifili that ever served 
to Tyrowen and Tyrconnell, and shortly after sent Sir 
Edmund l^tilunn. Chief Burcm, and Sir John Davies of 
IrejatKly the finst Justiees of Assize in those countries, 
which licre.w^et^ittd^to the Conunons, though distaste- 
ful tQ.1ke^f]^hiJjotdadf^Bothse^9 RedueHon oflteiand ^ 
io the Crown of Enotand, p. 185. r^^^^i^ 

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tS THB CONFISCATION OF ULSTSm 

theeomnmnpeopk.'' B^lbrdsandeemiiioiiileo*^ 
pie had jet to learn what things coald be wrought 
iftider the demhlance of English law, and whnt, 
wa« the tt^oe import of that pnoteedoa into whiok 
they had been graeiously reeeived. 

As a preliminary measure towards the esta^^ 
blishment of English power, the old laws and 
cmstoms of Taniatry and Gav^tnd^ and all " oirt*' 
tings, eosherings, and fessings^^*^ wefe ab^ishedt- 
and the English law of inheritance, and Enghafa; 

,> 

* Coigne and Livery, Cuttings and Cosherings, weri 
various names for the several forms of contribution 
wfaifeh tLtt Irish Chieftain was enticed to leceiTie fimm hii 
clansmen, or, as English wiiterg univ^salljr phrased it^ 
from his ** tenants.** "Coigne and Livery'* meant 
man*8-nieat and horse-meat {Spenser's State of Ireland), 
which a cMef seems to have been invested yfi^ power 
to requke in nther indefinite qnaoitities, aeoos^ig io^ 
the exigencies of his station ; and '* Coshering" wa^ tfaa. 
pivilege of the chieftain to make progresses among hia. 
c)an, and live, with all his train, at their expensa^. 
*' wherein be cUd eat them,** says Sir John Davies, **om^ 
of house and hotae.**— 'Historical 7Yact*r p. 134. Sir 
John, indeed, who was a main inataiuaant in establi^ 
ing the new systems of tenure, is highly indtgnant against 
the old, which he says '* made the lord an absdlut6 ty« 
rant, and the tenant a very slave and villein*' — bdissT 
unable apparently to underitand 1^6 &ct, which, iSiw^ 
ever, is indisputable, that the Chieftain waanot a **loni/' 
nor the clansmen *' tenants,^' mvdi iese "vilkdns;" 
that all these **coshering8," ftc. w^re tl»a anciant pa^^' 
ments which custom required every clan to make to its 
elected leader; and that, far fhnn being oppresotre, the^ 
were gladly submitted to by every <Am. withont €xce|^ 
tion, **for their common saying,*' says Spenser, *^*i0. 
Spend me and Defend mc" — a phrase whieh deariy incfi* 
cates the mutual obBgations of chief and people^ and the 
mode in which they were to be dischargi^ t i 



Uioorosi anl^iiHiM in Uieir stesd* The ^^CWm- 
iplsfiioii of Grac^'' issued^f and in pursuancer of 
ite prQviaioQS most of the Imk lords, yielded their 
estates to the crown^aod reoeivedtkem again under 
the English titles of Eiiught Service or Cbmmoo 
Soceage; inquisitions wer^ holdeii iota the amount 
of land possessed by ^e^ ehieftain^ im order thai 
nffm of ikem should receive a oe-grant of more 
tkau ^hat was^aetuaJdj in hia possession; and the 
teaanta ua^r eftoh JiMrd, reliav^ of uneertain o<m- 
tiibutlons and exacUons, held their lands subject 
tf> an ansual r^at and bj free tenurcf 

• ^ lascdles 'aajt " The Commisnon of Grace wa» 
u^esr^y a device for raispg mm^^y. Lawjerp were th9 
fiaanciers of l^e daj. Ana this device of % new tenure 
was a mere tax, ever renewable like a phcmiix, but not 
Be fabulous, l^ugh th^e Commissions of Grace are 
iuleriazdocl witk maeaj specious professions of ' pitj for 
tine poer' — * love of jus^ce' — ' tiie |Hx>sperit7, trade* 
aad oofiomerce of the eountry'—f ciyility' — and the 
liJie; yet so is every declaration even of war, which is 
sire to lay prostrate ell those blessings. We might as 
1^ belieTe the pteamlto of. many statutes, whieh» 
BcverthdesB, evezy maa of oommon sense knows are 
nsthing dbe but the pretexts, not the true reasons of the 
ltBt,".^^Liber mvmemm publicorum Hibemia under the 
h«Bding of Me$ f49t4B AAffhrum in Hibemia, chapter 6, 
pj47» being a very exeeUent history of Ireland by Mr. 
lascefles ctf the Middle Temple. 

tf These changes, which would at ihe first glance appear 
tebe beneficial to the peoi^ were suggested by a far-see- . 
nig policy^ having every difieroitobject. The destruction 
0$ the eastom of Tanistry rooted out the very pnnci- 
]^ ef Irish govemment-^leotion ; and with it that an. 
citnt system of clanship which is found pervading the 
hlitQry of Ireland irom the eai^iest periods, (Moore, 
til. U PP- 169, 170,) and which principally depended on 
tltis, and on the other institution of Gavelkind. The 



20 TBS CONFISCATION OF UL6TSB. 

In thiA scbeme of gorenmieiit, which at one 
blow destroyed the institutions, habits, laws, 
and customs of ages, which substituted one 
form of civilization for another essentially dif- 
ferent, there was, to the eyes of an Englishman, 
much apparent wisdom. The ancient laws of 
Ireland had been tried, say English writers, 
and were found not to be beneficial. From 
the customs of Tanistry and, Gavelkii^d, and 
from the subdivisio^ of power amongst the 
numerous chieftains, resulted incessant conten- 
tions, which render^ any great National move- 
ment unlikely, if not impossible, and fatally 
impede^ the progress . of the people to refine- 
ment and high civilizadoiiV A social system 
without any settled appropriation of property,* 

latter nuide all lands i&e common property of the sept, 
for, on the death of the Prmce, his Tanist (who dtnrmg 
his life time had been elected to succeed him) assembled 
the sept, and made a partition of all the lands amongst 
them. This was a system quite different f^m 9)» 
Anglo-Norman, or feudal, form» of social organizatioi^ 
and was certainly unfayourable to agricultural kn« 
provement. But the English monarchs saw a greater 
evil in it. It gave the princes only a hf^state-t 
a restricted and n(^ descendible interest; and the 116 
estate only, and not the remainder, was forfeitable hj 
treason. By giving the ** fee-shnple" to the Chiefs ni> 
estates became subject to the law of Forfeiture ; and 
vrhat was more in^rtant to the objecta of England, th$ 
sept lost that conmion bond of interest and union witl 
the Chief, which gave them power and consequence. A 
similar result occurred in the systend of Highland c^Uf 
ship in Scotland by similar policy. 

*^"The fruits of; the Irish Gavelkind wa$ the total 
desolation of the country. When the English entered 
the fertile fields of XJbter, they found an idle desert ; an4 

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THS CONFISCATION OF'ULSTEB. 21 

and with no established' line of liereditarj des- 
cents divided and contentious, where all c! lifer- 
ences. were brought to the arbiti-ament of tlie 
eword, or decided by a code in wliicK the punish- 
,inent for the gravest crimes was commuted to 
pecuniary mulcts ;— a military syi^tem capable of 
producing the noblest instances of heroiism, and 

* occasionally of gallantly resisting foreign inva- 
. sion, but incapable of affording permanent inter- 
nal security, gave way before a newer and more 
vigorous order of things, and yicliled, not without 
honourable resistance, to the arm^ ami policy of 
an united enemy.* It is now a matter of mere 
speculation wliether, if Ireland " had not temjgted 

t^e greneral aubjiigntion of the Celtic tribes, who, though 

gifted, aad iji no urdinjary degree, with strength, cou- 

n^e, and inteHigencij, have yielded to every stranger, 

f may probatly be traced to their stubborn adherence to 

. tiW» gyitem, wjiich [Uinihilated all inducements to Indus- 

"* try> destroyed tlit? sources of individual opulence, and 

\ ^jfLoaed the n fit ion at large to all the evils of slotn and 

' maolfince*" — Sir F. Palgrave's Bise and Progress of the 

; English CommomwaUh, vol. 1, p. 75. He says that 

Gavelkind is a variation of an universal Teutonic cus- 

y • Noble in stan cm occur in Irish history of reeistance to 

* foreign agtftcflaliLjn. Tlie very crimes and aboioinalions 
[ coinmittetl by the Danes prove how violent iu\d persever- 
' ing nmst have been the opposition of the Irith to the 
'. north cm in votlera . T he most signal triumph over foreign 
[ eneniies iras achieved by Brian, a wi^e and &iK<?cs9fnl 
' lieurpor, wlin had ntivrly consolidated in hl^ own person 

the entire nionarcMeal power of Ireland. Bti d be eurv I ved 

the bloody and glorious triumph of Clontarf, he might per- 

" Jl^ap.6 have completed bia scheme of wise usurpation, and 

' Realized in his own person, or in that of one of hi* descen- 

'liants, the theory contained in the tcxtQc^^Re^^y ^^ 

B 3 



2i THE CONFISOATiON 07 ULSTER. 

the cupidity of her neighbours, there would- hliva 
arisen in the course of time some Egbert or Ha-^ 
rold Harfager to consolidate the provincial king-^ 
dospLS into one hereditary monarchy.*** It ia 
most probable that such a consummation might 
have been effected ^ but the spirit of adventure 
ourried the invader to the shores of Ireland be- 
fore her LegislatcMf appeared, and the country fell 
beneath the internal dissensions of her owU sons 
as much as by the force and treachery of a 
foreign foe. It has been her unfortunate lot that 
those who, after the loss of her independence, 
obtained power in Irektnd, perpetuated those 
evils — ruling first by the conflicting interests of 
different races, and afterwards by the angrier 
iHxtagonism of different creeds. This policy will 
develope itself in the course of this narrative. 

After the final and irreparable defeat of Hugh 
O'Neill, but little resistance was offered to the 
introduction of English law in Ulster. In a few: 
years the entire province was under its control ; 
it was filled with English garrisons ;t patrdled by 

he &Ueii when contentioaas arose between his sons and ' 
the chief of another tribe, who laid claim to the thrond 
of Mimster ; and on their march homewards the former ' 
were opposed by iSae Prince of Ossory, Mac Gilla Pal 
trick, who demanded hostages. '^Hostages or battle ^^ 
.**Let it be then battle," sud the sons of Briwa, "for 
never within the memory of man did a prince of liie race 
of Brian give hostages to a Mae Gilla Patrick." The 
sequel <^ this characteristic episode is given in one of 
Moore's exquisite melodies. 

* Hallam's ** Constitutional History," ch. 18, p. 463. 

t * ' The following list of garrisons held by the British in 
Ulster, in :May, 1603, compiled from Moryson, (ffist. i. ' 
73, 155, 253 ; and ii. 131, 184, 20§^,,8^a^^I^^ey 



!IgBgli4)i J«dg«6 of Asai'ee ; ami fife public peade 
was confided to the giaardianshipof Sherifif^. There 
was no trace of. Inah. customB, the new order of 
things was established without difficulty, and the 
natives ** were for the first time admitted to the 
privilegea of subjects."* Peace, the daughter of 
juBine and the sword, was proclaimed throughout 
^e devastated districts of Ulster ; and the time 
bad indeed arrived when it had become possible 
for Englaad.to lay the foundations of her power 

widely and aeouirely in the soil of I|*eland 

.^^ Equal laws and civilized customs^ had been 
prodUimed Uirough the land ; the English judges 
every half year (like good plants in their seve- 
ral spheres and circlesf) owried 4he light and in- 
fluence of justice round about the kingdom ; and 

some idea of the miHtfliy itate of the province :^*J)aum. 
Newry, 100 men ; Le^e, or Downpatrick* induing 
Dimdrum and Aniglass, 200 ; Narrow-water ; Green- 
cas^. Antrim — Carrickfergus, 650 : Toome ; Older- 
fleet. Armagh. — Armagh, 150 ; Momitnorris, 150 ; 
IkmitlattgbHn. M&naffhan — Mouagfaaa and Ba»ke, in- 
dading some other castles, 350. Cavan — Gavan, 100 ; 
Cloughaughter y Bi^linicargy. Fermanagh — ^Enniskillen 
and some castites garrisoned from Ballyshamion. 7]/ron€. 
Omagh, 100 ; Cbaxlemom, 150 ; Mountjoy, 350 ; New* 
tonstewart, 100 ; Dunman, 15id ; Augher. Derry.—- 
Berry, 350; Culmore, 20; Ainogh, 100; Ck>leraine, 100. 
Donegall. — ^Donegall, Ariieraw, Ballyshamion, including 
castles in Fermanagh, 900 , Lifford, 350 ; Dtmalong, 
150; Eilmaorenan, 100; Bamnllan, 100; Doe, 100; 
Cargan, 100; and Burt, 150.*'— Uctrf's Hist, Fresh. 
Church in Ireland, vol. i., p. 76, n. 3. 

* Ih. p. 74. 

t Davies' ** Historical Tracts," p. 199. Perhaps tliere 
is no quainter simile in the English language — ^hut ex- 
cusable in an attomey.general. Digitized by Google 



M TMM .ooHnscAviov ov mMnau 

it Appetirtd «8 if the loi^ ccmtesi of ibe tw^ 
races iMd oeaaed for emr by the saljugalicai of 
the Chiefs and CShms <if IrelnuL 

Bttt it was soon diecoym^ed thal> from the ex* 
tepsiye scheme of ^eqnal laws and cvriliaed cu9- 
toma^'^ the greatest partien of ^ Iridi natkn 
was to be careful^ •exohided bj ^aronglj con- 
strooted barriei& It bad been thoagl^ by the 
Bomaa CatholicB that James was favourable ta 
the falWfci of his kogjoidpriiieelj lineage^ and 
reljdag upon this ^cnmeous conviotiov, the peo* 
pie rose in Cork* and Walerfoid^t wi^ the eon- 
sent and ootopmratloR of the raagistraoj, to ne^ 
store theold ve^ii^on $ thefrespimed the ohui^hes 
and ezpcfled the minisle£B» who possessed- «i Ht-- 

^'Sadth ta his hiatory of Oirk t^res (lie fUkmiog' 
amn^iog aq99i»Dfc of Om pcossetdmgs m tkat ojtgr:*^ 
<*Tl^e citizena every daj grew moie ^rebdUoiis; £» 
they burned all the bibles and common-prayer books 
they could find ; they rased out the ten comma&dmentB» 
and other parts of the scripture that were in the churches, 
tha^ th^ might wash them n/ra^ aad paint liieir old 
Popish pictures in their stead. They publicly s«t up tiie- 
mass, and posted sentinels at the doora of tb» chuivbes* 
They had a pezsoa named a Xiegate Irota the Fope, 
who went about m procession with a cross, and fiSiCcd 
people to reyerence it; they buried the dead with the 
Romish ceremonies, and numbers took the sacrament 
to defend that relii^n with their liyes and fininmea^"*- 
Smiths History •/" Cork, voL 2, p. 99. 

t The same author ^ves a eimilar aooouat of the 
proceedings in Waterford. Speaking of the Ca4^ielic8} 
he says, *' Th^ broke the doors of the Hospitid, ondad^* 
mitted Doctor White to preach a seditious s^mou iidSt; . 
Patrick's C^iurcb, wherein, funongst other iayeCltves, be^ 
6aid that Jezabel (meaning Queen £lus«tl»e^) was dead. 't 
— -^t«^ o/ Tfa^er/brrf, p. 143. ^ . ^-^^ 

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il^f^t tiieiftpkil of ipcrtyrs ii,M ^jxEestms^ bj$ 
th^jMd^ai ihe-^wij of saxnts t* sAj^y$ mi m^^ 
nasteries were repamd; tbe Temples ^fworshijp^* 
anii of ofamntf oafie tame m^d their heads ^^r 
thft^batlwrism vduch had pirofaned tbem i and t^e^ ' 
CQp«at0iiie»itf ihe naHorad religie&^nirerey for « 
ahorfc pm^d \gBiofp tbe darksesd s^ i% celebNited^ 
(^N@t»l7<and)^s&(iui|}£ar. i Jielakid saym^ imd indeed ' 
th^ Imh hiatXHriaBV^f^ldieSbutb'df irdlaifd ideem t(^ 
etj^Hmrp^si^^^^^JbesaBE^fithh^ Cathdio del* ^ 
w^kt^fiirtiifap^ ood,.^^ wkh an insdbnce iR^hi^n^ ' 
rd^p^ikfih ipoHiwiplea , «oidd ^xctis^/? pari^simKed t<y ; 
ii«ii|>;1^e/fiiiictiooflt of the eataUi^d triboiials; ' ^ 

ob^ tk^ ijdmHiPDi Wa sot ^oee of the ikm 
But James soon undeceived those who trusted to 
his ideir^no]^ #r li|isHtolerati<mt; <h« might, «»d 
possil^j did feel, some tenderness towar<& the re-^ 
li|iou8 "tenets of tlie Catholkjs ; but the . doctritie 
of papjil supremacy i^as a stumbling-block to !t^,^, 

f^hkfmtmf flMei there Is bo nnMster at nHi ttf \. 
mii^^^aeM U mimher as good as none* eVen li^mtib' ' 
dog Unt ^eaniidt hsa^, an idte shepherd, who is not i^t ' 
to Jsfudk nor aible to confute ; in other places a lewd a^d 
sctodatbus miobter, whose not goBp«14ike behaViotkr is 
a ftitniUBg-Moek* to t^m that are without. Eveid ab 
tha.Pi(iB«iaef Oaha in India said that he wonM not go 
to hettmt if the l^nis^s went thither, beeatise he 
thought that there oooM be no good place where such 
lyBiaits''w6i»^ so< many of this oouati7 wifi not be oi 
our veligiiM, because «h^ tMnk IMt there can be ha 
tni#«digiQli wMch hath^uch uneonsdonable ministers.'' ' 
^J!iialik*$^^S>6mm'^ Dteghtdtnv ^ d2. This refers to li ' 
perM'Vaudieartterthan 1^ dattf of the fJlster Planta- ' 
tiou) ^wt it-cotftittiied to be itm fbr a long while aflep' 

^•'***' ' * Digitized by Google 



26 THI& COMFE8CATION OF ULdTElU 

pride and egotism of Royalty ; it was ^* an impe- 
rial civil power over kings and emperors, to de- 
throne and decrown them at the Pope's plea- 
sure."* The result of this jealous and ignorant 
construction of that which necessarily involved 
neither tlie safety of kings, nor the loyalty of 
subjected was a fierce persecution against the 
priests. The King's Ck>uncii published in Dublin 
an Act of Uniformity, passed in the second year 
of Elizabeth's reign ia a Parliament of the Pale, 
by which attendance on Catholie worship wa6 
prohibited under severe penaltieB. It was spee- 
dily followed, on the 4th July, 1605, by a pro- 
chunation, in which Jaipes dissipated the delu- 
sions of those who expected religious toleration 
at his hands. He told his subjects — *^ his beloved 
subjecta^^-that he would not admit any such 
liberty of conscience as they had fondly ex- 
pected, and he commanded that by a certain day 
the Catholic priests shoidd depart the realm. 

And then commenced a religious war of great 
cruelty and greater folly. The magistrates and 
cl4ef citizens <d Dubliii were enjoined to repair 
to the churches of the establishment. Repeated 
admonitions and conferences^ says Leknd, served 
but " to render them more obrfffeate*' — ^it was 
strange that it should be so— and the stem logic 
of fine and imprisonment was freely adopted. 
The {^soBS were pei^ikd with recusants; the 
priests were forced to fly the country or else to 
conceal themselves in secret places to avoid the 
gibbet smd the lash. The terrors of the penal 

• Lcland's **Hi8t. of Ireland," >«iLeay(piafc2gle 



.:5m* COMWSCAiTiOir OF CLSTEH. 27 

laws, let ioope by the theologic iiirj of tH© King, 
were increased by the avarice and cruelty of the 
sangninary Chichester* Up to the year 1605 the 
^ees of Derry, Baphoe^ and Clogher, which ex* 
itended over ike greater part of Ulster, had been 
occupied by Roman Catholic prelates ; and the 
abbeys and monasteries which had been ^rmally 
dissolved half a century before, still eontinued to 
be the centres round which flocked numerous 
priests, friars, and other ecclesiastical persons. 
But the publication 6f the Pro(^mation was the 
signal for resuming into the King's hands those 
edifices of religion, and iejeoting their " useless 
inmates/'* And what made these oppressions 
more bitter in the North was, the striking fact 
thai Hhete^ aa wie may oondude from Davies'» 
Account of Ghi<^bester's progress in Ulster in 
1607, th^ce was not a single Protestant outside 
^e numeirous garrisons of tbe English. ^ the 
same authprity we find* that up to this pei^iod H 
was impossible that the principles of the'Befbr- 
mation ^K>uld have been ai all known in Ul^r, 
for no religious teaching had been provided for 
the pec^^. The Udings of a reformed religion 
were preached from no pulpit ; the reetors and ' 
bishops who had been appointed were non-re- 
sidient ; and the Catholics were reduced to tbe 
al^rnatiye ei enduring penalties for the pro- 
fession of the faith they had been reared in, or 

* W^ qui e^ilj luderstand the propriety' of such an 
epjfchet, in the mouth of the reverend historian of the 
riWfeftyterian Church in Ireland. See Reid'p History, 
voL 1, p. 7&. 

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28 THE CONFISCATION OF I7LSTEB. 

embradng a leligion in which they had received 
00 8|)&ritual iastructioQ, 

We muj well imagine it was not without 
de^ rage and disappointment that Hugh O'Neill 
looked out from his retirement upon the suffer- 
ings of his people. His eyes were accustomed 
to the »gbts of War, and his mind was familiar 
with the images of heroic suffering ; they woul<f 
have awakened no pity or pained no sensibility 
la his heart ; but when he sheathed the swqM 
an4 abdicated his ancient principalities, he ha^ 
reason to hope that peace would have visited 
the nation, and that civil oppression would not 
have followed so closely on the track of famine, 
fire, and murder. He had seen the province, 
which was the old inheritance of his house^ 
reduced by the most frightful agencies to the 
lowest state of poverty and wretcltedaess.-*- 
He had seen its harvests reaped by the sword 
abd had mourned over a ghastly peac^ pro- 
duced by desolation. The country was dearly 
unpeopled, and its pastures wasted by r«rthless. 
war. The miserable survivors ol the iaist odn<i 
tests of Liberty, were exposed to ike mi>t^ gsrie«-' . 
vous calamities of fkmine and p6BtUence# That • 
wild sensual and warlike people, whesa lives* 
were spent between martial c<Mttest mad the 
sports and labours of the field, who had rcmidin. 
freedom through their ancient Jorefti, andd^iiceft *. 
their flocks from pasture to pieture, tvercnourt 
the victims of the sword, or were chased by tkim t 
conqnerors into the wild fastnesses of ilwAanIi 
that once was their own. This waa tho f^^^ 

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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 29 

i^ar; but t)ie oppressioD that ground them to the 
e^h, and whh^h taught them all i^ hiwsmjsm 
of defeat, came in the placid guise of law^. Their 
religion was proscribed ; their churches were 
Bci^ed upon ; and their sanctuaries were defiled ; 
their priests wci-c banished the Ijind^ or else ex* 
ppged at home to torttire, to inPamyj and denth. 
A code framed in le^lahitures, tiie abject agents 
of foreign tyranny, was revived ta torture and 
degi^de them. And tliese cruel oppressions, 
whilst they inflamed the people, feli far more 
bitt^iy on the spirit of their Chief, of him who 
had left the still unreaped harvest of war, and, 
vainly tm^tiof? perfidious foes^ liad sheathed the 
sword in the hope of restoring peace to his af- 
flicted land. 

Nor was he without private and peculiar 
sorrow Sj which weighed upon his soulj and 
might well have provoked the treasons of which 
he was afterwards ace used. He had scarcely 
left the court of England and retired to his own 
principality, oppressed with the grievous weight 
of his aew dignities, when he found himself 
struggling in the network of En^^lish policy, Hia 
rich lands had been turned into Shires; where his 
will had been the law, the ofliciala of a Imteful 
power were securely settled to distribute new and 
unheard-of codes; the Coram issi oners of James 
surreyed his passes, foreign armies, garrisoned bis 
tcmns, ftsd pattn^d the wid9 ai^d oqce fertile 
plaki^ l&dr JK^ms had ra:idierftd desolate* But 
titet^as! tidt> all i hi^ own: . ateps^ were dogged by 
s^9t^^ Gf^ry act: of his vf$A noted; officii 
zeal even exalted itself to prophecy. " Notice 



30 Tins CONFISCATION OV IJI.8TSJI* 

is taken of eveiy person that is able lo 4o eltikeT 
good or hurt. It is known not on^ how tliej 
live and what thej do ; bmt it is foreseen what 
they purpose or intend to do ; insomuch that 
Tyrowen has been heard to complain, that he bad 
so many eyes watehing over him that he could 
not drink a full carouse of sack, but the state 
was advertised thereof a few hoi^rs after.*** The 
import of their prophetic visions is now to be 
seen ; it was a prophecy which fulfilled itself in 
the destruction of the most ancient families of 
the island, and the confiscation of its finest pro- 
ytooe. 

•Sir John Davifii. 



d by Google 



rrHB GOiO^lSCATlON OF UI>ST£R* 31 



CHAPTER II. 

Tlie Sham Plot— Different rewions of the Plot— Pli^t 
cf l^rdwen — His death at Borne — ^Proclamation of 
^ames— BebdUon of O'Dogherty. 

jAMf s haling thus, by reHgious persecution lind 
personal indignity, tortured the angry spirit 
of Tjrrowen, hastened to consummate his designs 
npon the broad lainis^ <>f UlBter, All the great 
exertions made by Elizabeth during the last Irish 
war, and all the extravagance of treasure which 
victory had cost, would have been a vain outlay 
of labour and money, if O'Neill and O'DonneU 
were allowed to retain their lands, and the pea- 
sants of Ulster to cultivate in peace the soil 
they had fought for so well and so long. 

A decent pretext, however, was required to au- 
thorize James and his councillors to seize upon 
the extensive domains of the northern chiefs 
and people. A long war had concluded in 
a solemn national peace, for the fulfilment of 
whose terms national honour was pledged.* — 
The conquered people had received the institu- 
tions of the conqueror ; they had abandoned the 
customs and the laws, and all but the religion of 
their country ; their Princes and their Kings had 
relinquished their ancient honours and accepted a 
modem nobility; they had surrendered their lands 

Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



32 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTFR. 

irito the hands of a foreign monarch, and taken 
them again under a new tenure and new condi*. 
ttons of possession ; and all this they did to purchase 
peace and security, under the most 8olei]an sanc- 
tions and the most sacred guarantees. It re- 
quired no little skill in one of the contracting 
parties to escape ^m the conditions of the 
agreement, and, with a plausible excuse^ to per;^ 
p^irate a great and meditated wrong. 

No better mode appeared of efl^ting ibB 
object of James i^id his courtiers, than a plot^ 
either real or fictitious, which, involving the 
leading noblemen of Ulster in charges of High ^ 
Treason, would, by forced construction of law, 
throw the whole of the land of the Northern pro- 
vifice into the grasping and needy hands which 
awaited its distribution. Circumstances put saeb 
an excise in their way^ 

.There are many versSens given of the conspi- 

raoyt^ Tyrowen and Tyrconnell, but the foljo wing , 

are those princ^ally adopted by th« writers wf^ 

Irish Ui^tory, The first and by far the most ^ 

singular is, that a letter was discovered in the \ 

Council Chamber in the Castle of Dublin, without ) 

a signature, and directed to Sir WilUam Usher, > 

Clerk of the Council, in which was mentioned | 

a design for steiamig the Castle, and murderjng ; 

the Deputy, and suggesting a general revolt and:t 

dependiince on Spanish forces; for tl» pmj^ • 

po3^ o£csfeablishing the Catholic religion.* Th^*" 

. • '. t 
* ** Temple writes to the same effect* but Dr* Carl^tpp, > 

birfi^ of Chichester, ' a coatemporary w^er^ ,iay» frrr .o- 
** Montgomery, bishop of Derry, suspected, or was 

told, that Tyrowen had gotten into his hands the greatest 



•THE CONFISCATION OF UI^T^H* 33 

fbUowing is tbe anonyinoiis letter, which was 
femid in the Council Chamber, May 19, 1607. 
It was taken up by a door-keeper, who c^ried it 

part of the lands of his bishoprick ; which he intend^ 
m a lawful dourse to recover ; and finding there was no 
maaondd ginre hkn betti^ l^t or knowledge of these 
thiiMTS than 0'G«hMEie (who was intimate with T^rowen, ) 
made us« of such means that he (O'Oahane) came to him 
of hit own accord, and told him he could help him to the 
knowledge of what he sought, but that he was afraid of 
T y row eu ; yet he engaged to reveal all that he knew of 
tlui4i matter, provided ti^hishop would promise to save 
him from TyrowenV vi(dence, and not deliver him into 
England, winch the bishop having promised, he brought 
O'Cahane to the coundl in DuUin to take his confession 
thare. Upoii this, proGessea were sent to iy rowen to warn 
him to come up to Dublin, at an appcnntad time, tb 
answer the suit of the lord-bishop of Dwry, Th^e waa 
no other intention but in a peaceable way, to bring tlie 
em%- to a triial ; for iho council then knew nothing of the 
plot. But Tyrowen having entered into a new eonspiraey, 
of which O'Cahane wa^ he^^aa to suipeol^ when he was 
•erred with a process to answer the smt, that this wa^ 
Imt-a plot to draw him in, and that surely the treason 
had beaaMTealed by OX)ahane. Upon this bare suspL 
cap9* Ty^awen. with his oanfadevatea fled out of Ireland, 
and lost all t^itm lands in the ^i>ti:k,"**^Thumkfid Me^ 
nieinhrduce, p. 16$. dtante Curry. It is not hlqety that 
C^Ofthan, who entered into conspiracy with l^owen. 
apd who was a Boman Catholie^and a genl!leman, would 
efm^^Hiaicate to. the usurping Bishop of Derry any in^ 
fc^mat^on which could injure hia ally m^ Iriend (yNeilL 
Savi^e are the rumours on which Parliament founded 
it»^l^ of attainder, by which half a million of acres 
wers Tested in' the crown! Borlase despatches the matter 
w^jiis duu^tetiatio b«!evi<9r 9^M The said Lord l^uBt- 
joy continued JEbr some time Lord Lieutenant, who going 
for England carried T^owen with him ; who was gra^ 
ct<Md^mmled hy the King, and returned with honours 
not long iffier.' He comploUed however fresh rebelUons, 

. * Digitized by VjOOff IC 



34 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTEK. 

lo the Lord Deptitj, then moat foriunatefy flir- 
ting in council : — 

The letter imported, ** that the Writer was called into 
company by some Popish gentlemen^ who after adminis- 
tering an oath of sQci^ecy, declared their purpose was ^ 
murder or poison the Lord Deputy ; to cut off Sir OHver 
Lambert ; to pick up one by one tilie rest of the offices 
of state ; to oblige the small dispersed garrisons by hnay 
ger to submit, or to penn them up as sheep in the ^ftnai' 
bles. That the Cas^ of Dublin, being neither ▼icttMU'^d 
nor manned, they held as thcdr own; that the townii 
were for them, the country with them : the great ones 
abroad and in the North were prepared to answer thfe 
first alarm ; that the powerM men in the West were 
assured by l^ir agents to be ready, as soon as the state 
was in disorder : that the Catholic King had promised 
and the Jesuits from the Pope warranted men and meanb 
to second the first stirs, and equally to protect all their 
actions : that as soon as the state was dissolred and the 
King's swozd in their hands, they would dect a Goveiv 
nor, GhaneeUor, and Coui^: dispstoh letters to the 
King, trusting to his imwillingness to embark in such ii 
war and his facility to pardon ; that he would grant them 
their own conditions of peace and government with tolet 
ration of religion; th«t if he listened not to tiieur mOm 
tions, then the many days spent in England in debate 
and preparations, would gire them time to breathy to 
fortify and furnish the maritime coasts and at leisufe 
to call to their aid Spanish forces from aill-: parts." The 
writer goes on to say that he interposed seme doubts, 
*< which th^ readily answered; and he -poBetended to 
consent to further their prqjects ; and that he took the 
method of this letter to give notice of their designs^ 
though he refused to betray his friends : in the mean- 



1 



which beinsf detected, and he being proclaimed traitor, 
he fled privately into Kormandy, thence to Flanders, 
then to Rome, where he lived on the Pope's allowanccw 
became blind* and died 1616." — Reduction of Ireland^ 
p. 184. ed. of 1675. 

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THE COWFISCATIOW OF ULSTER. 35 

time iika^ he would use hh best endeavoiuni to hinder 
any further practices. That if they did not desist, 
though he reverenced the mass and the Catholic RcU- 
.gion equal to the devoutest of them, yet he would make 
- the leaders of that dance know, that he preferred hli9 
country's good before their busy and ambitious hip 
mours."* 

Nothing could be more improbable than the 
stateAients of thb strange letter. The abrupt 
manner in which ore commnnicated the most 
desperate intentions, of murdering viceroys and 
starving armies — the mode in which the writer, 
professing himself to be a Catholic, speaks i>f 
♦* the Mass," a manner never adopted by Catho- 
lics — tlie minuteness with which each particular 
of intended rebellion was stated by these conspi- 
rat(»*s at this meeting, render the occurrence of 
such meeting more than doubtful, and stamp the 
whole i^air fts a design of men anxious to in- 
volve the Earls, (who it is to be observed, are 
never laentioned by name in the letter,) in the 
charge of treason that they might share in the 
forfeitim^s, which were sure to -ensue upon their 
flight or conviction. 

Dr. Jones, the Bishop of Meath of the day, says 
^ iiuvtitwas writtea by a *^ providential discoverer of 
tmoi^idf rebelfieli in Ireknd,'* who was not willing 
to appear. It was not very likely that such a dis- 
coverer should conceal his participation in what 
goveminekt would have lo<^ed upon as a most 
nKe^ii^riotlB Service, and would have rewarded 
udMhi iW Wonti^ liblerality. But guilt was easily 

* Lodge** " Teettk^e of Ireland," by Archdall, p. 237, 
note. 

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36 THE CONFISCATION O^ UL$XBR. 

proved, where it w^ so etrewiaiiBly dfaw|5e4« A 
Mlef^tbont a signature, or any of the inarka>;rof 
^n autfientic document, dealing Ui geQ^iialiti#fl^ 
and lavishlj imputing treasons to the moat dis- 
tinguished individuals in the state, was an iostm- 
ment of bringing home guilt adapted onlj.to tjhe 
'Wtftst forms of tyranny i yet, coupled wiih..tJ|e 
subsequent flight of the suppo^ traifoi;^ it fTAS 
at the time admitted as cpoclusi^e l^tiwo^or 
against them, and has I^e;^ r^tail^d V ;Baai^ all 
the succeeding historians, without esfitnlDation 
or rebuke, as a aatlsfaetory proof of their giiiU. 

Cox^ in his own quaint way, says, *' They 
(meaning Tyrowen and Tjrconnell) had sent a 
Baron to the Arclidnkes, a ad probably had em- 
ployed some one eke iu Spain." ♦ He does not 
give any authority for the state men t. 

But the fullest, and most probably as true an 
account oa any of the affair, is giveu in the accu- 
rate pogeg of the latest and best of the English 
historjatiB.'I" Lingard represents the two Eark aa 
having left tbe English court with expressions 
of gratitude and feelings of dislruatj feelings em* 
bittcred by the per&ecutiona then commenced 
against the Catholicsj and the undisguised aax-^ 
iety of the IBcotch courtiers to Biake settlements 
iu Ireland. In this state of mind, the Earls ac- • 
oepted an intitatidn from Kichard |Q^ugant| Bttoii 
Delvin, to meet him at the Castle of Maynooth, 
where in dangerous x»o;df<^ixce 1iiff]i; m« 'said to 
have imparted to eacbpttfer theirs mmuM "feel- 

• • Cox's **ffistoryof,]jeWiiTvoL».f.ia. 
^ : \ Llngard, vol $1 p. l4i*.4>QUiiaji'li edition. 

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ifir CoknsfcATXON OP UL8T8S. 37 

AiBgf/*lk^^sWorn to defend their righto «yD4 their 

^vrt#j^6iit)J^ dpen force.* They did not, howey^, 

:< it ttiat" tiniie agree upon any definite scheme 

of insurrection ; their mode of action was to 

- be defensive, and thej resolved to have recourae 

-to measures of force only in case their religious 

•- Uberty vms attacked by tlie king. Two years 

.'after, secret itiformation is said to have been 

received by James, that Tyro wen was re- 

i newing his former relations with the King of 

Spain J and it is to thiSj probably, that Cox reiera. 

Upon which in format ion J whether true or fake, 

bis ruin and that of the other Northern chiefs 

wiis determined. A claim waa set up to a con- 

siderahle portion of his lands by direction of the 

ministers ; the Irish govern me nt declined to en-» 

tertain the suit ostensibly on account of its grave 

nature, but realty to entrap Tyrowen over to Eng* 

land, who, however, was a match for the cunning 

of hh enemies. He solicited and obtained ft 

respite of thirty days before appearing in Eng-t 

Hn^ ; and well knowing what the issue of such a 

visit would be, ho and bis wife, his younger 

aons and nephews; TyrconneU, with bis son and 

brother ? and thirty other persons^ embarked in 

11 vessel which had arrived from Dunldrkj and 

ttterm^iew dnYB* voyage arrived at QiiillebecqaQ^ 

Jii^^mFiAtoiy.* 

,dloca>c^*^ 

of i^mMPSf 4Bffi!nolc«gia. Supp.'' 186; in O'Connor's 
"JffjyibMlii^yMrrM"]] p rfif 

TKeid takes the plot for granted, and without vonch- 
lanng a ringle authority, saya^" Iiritated at this rssola- 
tion of i)te#^^Btf^ely. to hang &e priests, &c„\ and 
urged cvi^ttAeqaln^Bfect^ elergy, several of the 
Northern nobles who had been previously favoured br 
C 



.38 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

The Abbe Mac Geogbegan slightly varies frofia 
Lingar<Fs account. He says, and in this he agrees 
with Anderson in his " Genealogies,** that St. 
Lawrence^ Baron of Howth, entrapped the two 
Earls and the Baron Delvin to a conference, the 
particulars of which he divulged to govemmeni ; 
that Tyrowen and other Lords were s ummone 
before the Council and denied the accusation^; 
that they were directed to attend next day ; that 
before the next day came, some false friends of 
theirs in the Council advised them to fly ; vt^. 

him and had sworn fealty to the Crown, entered into a ' 
conspiracy against his government and applied to the 
courts of France and Spain to aid them in subrertilig 
English power in Ireland. The plot was happily die- 
covered before the time appointed for its execution had 
arrived."—. i?ctrf'« Hist, Presb. Church in Ireland, vol.!, 
p. 75, The plot was, generally considered to be what. 
Dr. Anderson describes it, a contrivaBce of Cecil, who 
was, as Osburne calls " an adep% in state tricks." Dodd 
in his ** Ecclesiastical History,"" says — "Cecil was an 
adept in framing fictitious plots, and has left instenie- 
tions behind him to succeeding ministers, when and how 
to make use of them against the Catholics. The oiigi. 
nal of these instructions, in CeciVs handwriting^ was 
formerly in the keeping of tbe infamous Judge Brad- 
shawe, by whom it was shown to Sir William Perdval, 
who communicated it to a gentleman of great woith 
, who died in 1697, and left it amongst other papers of 
remarks upon the times."— jDorfrf'« Ecc, Hist., vol. 3, 
fol. 196. This, it is true, requires more confirmaticm ; 
but when we recollect Cecil's character, and that his 
system was worked after CeciFs death as Cecil's self 
would have worked it, we must acknowledge that the 
mere mapping of his own paths for the benefit of his suc- 
cessors can add nothing to his infamy or their originality : 
when, too, we see the same practices continued to the 
present day, we must pronounce him to have been the 
transmitter of a system that is intrinsically English. 



THB CONFISCATION OF UJLSTER. , 39 

tha4 the Earls accordingly relinquishing their 
intention of appearing a second time in the Coun- 
cil Chamber, and embarking at Lough Swilljr 
sailed thence to France. 

On loddng at all the authorities, it is by no 
means clear that any design *of insurrection was 
ever entertained by the two Earls ; it is most 
eertain, that the report which was spread of an 
intended massacre of the English, was in every 
particular false. There is not a tittle of evidence 
adduced to prove so monstrous a charge, even in 
the elaborate argument of James, which may be 
seea in his long and pedantic proclamation.* 
Yet the story of the plot, and the report of 
the intended Sicilian Vespers, are repeated suc- 
cessively by nearly every English historian thftt 
writes of that period. Anderson, in his *^ Boyal 
Genealogies,** is an exception to the dull reitera- 
tion of falsehood. He gives a short and contemp- 

• Appendix I. The report that Tyrowen intended a 
massacre, is thus given by Boderie, ambassador of the 
King of France: — **La conspiration etoit k ce qui se 
pabhe maintenant parmi ce peuple, de faire des v 6pres 
Siciliennes sur tons les Anglais qui sont en Irlande, et 
puis y retablir la Religion CathoUque. Je ne s^ais si le 
inriiidpal but dudit Comte eut k de profiter ^ la reli- 
gi<Mi ; mais quoi qu'U eu soit ce qu'il a fait n'y a point 
d^a 6t^ nuisible. Car la yerit^ est que depuis cela, on 
n'apas si sever^ment poursuivi les Catholiques, comme on 
fidsoit auparayant." '* They give out here that the con. 
•piracy was to make a Sicilian Vespers on all the English 
who were in Ireland, and then to re-establish the Catholic 
religion. I am not sure that the principal end of the 
said Earl was to benefit religion ; but as far as he has as 
3ret gone* he has not done it any harm. For the truth 
is, that since this business, they have not persecuted the 
Catholics so severely as they did before." — Bodetxe^ 
Dec. 20, 1607; ii., p. 488. Digitized by Google 



40 THB CONFISCATION OF UL8TSB. 

tuon3 notice of the conspiracy: "Artful Cecil 
employed one St. Lawrence* to entrap the Earls 
of Tyrowen and Tyrconnell, the Lord of Delvin, 
and other L*ish chiefs into a sham plot^ which 
had no evidence but his. But those chiefs being 
informed that witnesses were to be hired against 
them, foolishly fled from Dublin, and so taking 
guilt upon them, they were declared rebels, and 
six entire counties in Ulster were at once for- 
feited to the crown, which was what their ene- 
mies wanted."! Artful Cecil, was Robert, Earl 
qf Salisbury, who, according to some historical 
opinions, was the contriver of the Gunpowder 
Plot 4 but who, at all events, profited largely 
by its discovery. 

The only circumstance which gave any colour 

* St Lawrence was a fit tool of CecU. Camden 
says, that he offered to murder Lord Grey de Wilton 
and Sir Thomas Gerald, to prevent their conveying re- 
ports of Essex to the queen ; but Essex who, whatever 
were his faults, was chivalrous and noble, scornfully re- 
fused the bloody service. — EHz. 741. 

{Anderson's "Royal Genealogies;" p. 786. 
The character of Cecil is uninteresting to Irish rea- 
ders. But it may be obsenred, as a matter c£ historical 
accuracy, that the preponderance of evidence is against 
the fact of his having contrived the Gunpowder Plot. 
Dr. Lingard attributes it altogether to Catesby — he calls 
it his Plot; and gives good reasons for his adoption 
of so desperate a remedy to assuage his grievances. 
Lingard, vol. 8, p. 32. Butler in his ** Memoirs of Bri- 
tish and Irish Catholics," devotes an admirable and tern- 
perate chapter to the vindication of the greatest enemy 
of his faith. Butler, vol. 2, p. 172. At the same lime 
he quotes four Protestant authorities : Osburne — Secret 
Audior of the Protestant Plea, to prove that Cecil's 
guilty contrivance was generally believed* But there is 



THE CONFI8CATI0W OF TTLSTER; 41 

to the charge against thfe Earls^ \fas tlieir se<riret 
flight into France. It was said that if innocent, 
they should have stood their ground and proved 
their freedom from imputed guilt, nor left theljr 
estates and dependants to the discretion of the 
King and of his courtiers. ButTyroweti was fore- 
warned that witnesses would be suborned against 
him, and his own experience of English law had 
taught him not to trust to the false testimony 
and well-assorted juries, which had already done 
sucb execution upon his friends. And, as for 
standing on the defensive, the Earls had no miH- 

no evidence of any feet against him. He certahihr 
knew of the plot early in its progrete, and sham plots 
irc»e greatly in vogoe r Imt this was as* real as it was 
sanguinary and dangerous, and a minister, without any 
conscience hut great talent, might well consider that 
he had a ri^t to make use of his knowledge, sooner or 
later, as he judged it prudent. The writers who insist on 
the guilty contrivance of this minister are, amongst 
others, LoM Castlemaine, and in our days the author of 
'ttie interesting and eloquent *• Memolr^of Hugh O'NeiH." 
in the " Library of Ireland,** page 287. " It seems to he 
the opinion of the ablest historians of these times, that 
the * n6w-made Earl (of Salisbury) stood indebted for 
all his honours and preferments in this reign, to a dispo- 
'^^#on which led him to a ready compliance with Wa 
iBkAaU^n wishes ; and it Is inserted, that he encouraged 
J«mes to extend the royal prerogative beyond ^ limits 
prescribed* to it by the laws of the la!ad"^Play/air*8 
Amily Antidpiiti^, vol. 1, p. 185. There seems to be 
i #oitte sort of mstoric justice in the fi^owing Seusts : James, 
>^tfae i(mrth eori in descent firom Robert Cecil, be(»me a 
' ClKtholle^ and narrowly escaped prosecution for his apof- 
tacy^ and impeachment toT his rebdlion in oonspiriugix) 
restore Jamed the Second. The kitter is a smguicM^ in- 
stance of igratctsjde in that order to the unhappy fitsarts. 
-#<ti^e*4 Gd»f«%jr fftke Briti$h Pwra^, p* 481i 
c3 



42 Tmi C30KFI8CATIOIV OT ULSTSm 

tary resoarces ; the spirit of the peofde waa 
broken, as well by the treachery of wwie of theif 
own chieftains dating the late war, as by the 
arms of Bn^nd; it would have been, under 
sadk circnmstaneee, impossible to have oc^lected 
an amy able to withstand a king so powerfal as 
J86me0. Th^parsned the only course open to 
them ; &ey fled from a country where (hey eoald 
not live eafely in peace, nor die honourably in 
war. Possibly tbey hoped to revisit Ireland^' 
fortified 1^ f<Nreign assistance — the most insecure 
and &tal reUance of a people struggting for 
lab^ty. In this hope they were signally di<i^ 
appointed— *their poMtioal existence terminated 
with the freedom of the country they had so re-* 
loctantly abandoned. 

The sequel of their personal history^ though 
no<l aiecessary to this narrative is full of iiifterest. 
In the Autumn of 1607, there embalmed at Lough 
Swilly, Hugh O'Neill, Catherine his wife, aiid 
three sons ; Roderick O'Donnell, his brother 
Oathbar, and his sister Nuaia; Rose, the wife of 
CatliMr, and their son Hugh, a child of two years^ 
and a very numerous and distinguished oompanyt 
It was a mournful group, that fugitive ^ftinily^ 
leiEivi<^ fcur ever the so^es of their afiecti^ms, of 
their glory, and of their ruin. "It is cer- 
tain that the sea has not borne, and the wind 
has not wafted, in modern times, a number of 
persons in one ship more illustrious, eminent, or 
noble in point of genealogy, heroic deeds, feats^ 
of arms, and valiant achievements, than they*. 
Would that God had permitted them to remain 
in their patrimonial inheritances until tWir chU'^ 

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TBB ODWraCATlOH OP tXLSm. • 43 « 

dfen sb^ndd have com^to the yoars <^ numbood \ 
Woeio the heart that meditated and the mmd that 
conceived, and the oouneil l^at recommended the 
prefect of tbifi expeditioe, without knowing wfae* 
ther th^ should to the «»dof their lives be aUe- 
tor^tum to their nata^ie priadpatities or patri- 
monies^' * - In a fbv da^s Ihe^r arrived at QitiU 
beeqve in NomilLnd ji The* English ambassador at 
the Gonrto^ Henry lYi demanded the Irifih exiles 
aalraStots to the Kmg of Enghiiid. James himself 
iasned a Icmg^ prookmatibn i^ai^ging theih with 
their treitsons^&eif immoralities, th^ low birlh, 
and the^ n^aoitj; hat France, eveir friendly 
and bospitable to Irishmen, tefnsed to credit the 
impossiUe ^ftlsehoods of his manifesto, or to- 
surrender into his sanguinary hands those who 
had> eiitriHted th^msdves to their demeacy and 
friendsfa^. The other foreign courts followed the 
eitampJe of France } they treated the £ai4s and 
thdr fdiowers as martyrs to the love of country 
and^to^eir fidelity in religion ; they were cheered 
by the sympathy* of Europe, and were received 
eirery where with the greatest distinction. Many 
of^tbem entered the Spanish army which was 
thfn leogaged in endeavouring to extirpate civil 
and s^^ioiis liberty in the United Provinces ;f 

*/• lAnnsIs of Uie Four Masters." It is diffictJt te under- 
8^(ithe reJM?onablene88 of the last inriprecation. We can 
sohre it only by reference to the Abba's version of the 
•*tPlijfit of the Earls.** Most probably the dentinciatiori 
VB8 intended to &1I oil those false friends in the Council 
wbo adrised than to fly. This, with tjie prpject <>€ re- 
tuAiing with Spanish t^opps^ would account |br the whole* 

fOne regrets that this was the service which the expa- 
- T Irish generally aborted. It «^,l^t^SSg'j|*''* 



A 4 THS CONFISCATION OF UL^TiSR. 

the Earl of Tyrconnell and Maguire of Ferma- 
nagh died shortly after the dight from Ireland ; 
one in Italy and the other in Geneva ; and Hugh 
O'Neill proceeded to Rome where he lived on 
the monthly alms of the Pope and of the King of 
Spain. A miserable fate for a man who possessed 
in the highest ilegree^the qualities of statesman 
and hero ; a man " of great industry, large soul, 
and capacity for the weightiest businesses.'* Old 
ftrii blmtl, and worn down by his private cares knd 
the i^reat afflict ions of his country, he died in the 
Holy City in 16L6. A few years afterwards his 
soa was found strangled in his bed at Brussels^ 

In the Convent of St. Isidore, at Rome, there 
id a valuable Irish manuscript, containing a full 
atK^Mint of the cause of Hugh O'Neill's flight, his 
various and painful journeys, from that fatal mo- 
ment when he bid his last farewell to his princely 
demesnes until his melancholv death. It would 
be conferring a great obligation on the histoiy of 
Ireland, if this manuscript were rescued from 
the moths and the hand of Time.* 

l*he flight of the Earls was rapidly followed by 
^ commission of oyer and terminer, " td take," 
as Leland says, ^* the speediest advantage pf this 

in ttielr defence^ that they looked upon the Spuiisrdfl^ 
akin in blex>d and of n comnLon origin with themiBelyes, 
and m professing the sani(! retigion. In addition to 
which it muiit be remembered that the Ikiglish were the 
alUes of tbc Dnteh, and the opporCanity of meeting their 
enemies ws^ too tempting lo be lost. 

* I obtain ed this infor mati on from a gentleman to whom 
T am o^iicii indebted for valnahle as^tance. Probably 
some of the reverend gentlemen of Maynooth wiil yet 
render the above service to the biography of a great man. 



THE CONFISCATIOH OF 0LSTSIU 45 

incident*'' Justice Sibthorpe and Baron Eliot 
were sent into the counties of Donegal and Tjrr- 
owen ; indictments were found against the Earls 
and all who were supposed to have been con- 
<2erned in the conspiracy ; many were taken and 
executed, and process of outlawry issued against 
those who had fled from the country.* 

Whilst the law was busy in its vocationi the 
mng was not idle* He saw, with considerable 
indignation, that his outlawed and fugitive sub* 
jects were honourably received in foreign courts ; 
he feared that their representations of his bigoted 
oppression would meet with a ready credence 
from the i^mpathy of Catholic Europe, and ho 
resolved to prevent such a result by publishing 
a statement of his own case. And the Procla • 
mation (dated 15th Nov. 1607,) which, in pur 
auance of this design, was issued, is the basest 

* Richard, Baron DelTin. was arrested in 1617> and 
committed to the Castle for High Treason. But his ser- 
vant contrived to convey to Alexander Aylmer, "his 
gentleman," some cord, by which he was enabled to 
effect his escape. Wingfield the Marshal was despatched 
In pursuit with a detachment of horse, but Delvin was 
not caught. He submitted next year, and received a 
fbU pardon 18th July, 1608. In the celebrated parlia- 
ments of 1613 and 1615 he sat, and his deserts were so 
great ai to have gained for him the Peerage of West- 
moMih. He was alterwards an ambassador, or rather an 
umpire, between the Irish Catholics and Charles the First. 
In the ** Popish rebeUion** he and his wife, both ad- 
vanced in years, were assaulted when travelling, their 
carriage stopped, and the lady wofullj misused. This 
pressed upon his mind, and he died in 1641. The tall 
details of his unhappy death are given graphically enough 
in liodge*0 ** Peerage'* by Archdall, vd. 1, p. 240. 

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46 VMS €ONKt8GATION OF 1U«S9SK. 

andouoal cUi^oabk doemnent pirofterved amcnigst 
the state papers of Uie EnglislL goverament. 

It stated, what was notoriously false^ that the 
£)»*ls were ''base and rude in their originall ;^ 
that they had not their possessions ^ lawful or 
lineal descent from anoestort of blood or virtfra % 
and that their only reason for flight was ^e pri^ 
vate knowledge and inward terror ^' of their ewn 
guiltinesse." A mueh more unbhishitig fi^B^ 
£ood was, that they had endured no flSKleBtatioa 
mi the ground of religion, and that the^mranaserB 
of the Earls were so barbarous and ^inchristiaai 
that it would be unreasonable to trouble th^m 
about any form of faith. Much more to^his ^pur- 
pose, equally malignant and un^^rae, did Jameses 
Proel^naticHi eontain ;' bul it was Without «fiecl. 
Its manifest falsehood and undisgc^ted> i^i^cour 
deprived it of any power to work evil against the 
fugitives^ in that quarter where James was most 
anxious to misrepresent and injure them. They 
continued the honoured guests of the courtsi <^ 
Europe, illustrious examples of the great reverses 
of fortune, and of the perfidy of monarchs. 

By the flight of the Earls, six counties in Ul- 
ster fell to the disposal of the crown. The only 
title, however, which James could have had to 
these counties, was by forfeiture arising from the 
attainder for flight of O'Neill and O'Donnell. 
But it has been well remarked by an eminent 
lawyer and historian, that it waa^ singular that 
his own proclamation should divest him of that 
title.* " Wee doo hereby declare that these per- 

• O'Connell's *^ Ireland and the Iri8b,;^ch. 2. p. 195. 

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sons had not their creations or possemions in re- 
gard of any lawful or Imeall descent."* If tfcey 
had no legal title, how oonld a forfeiture) worked 
by their attainder for flighty transfer a ti<le tb 
James ? There could be no' transfer of a noB««x>- 
isteni thing. The coarse of events, however, waa 
the best oritieism on the king's proclamation. 

However anxious James was ^to indulge his 
passion for refbrmiDg Irdand by the introduce 
tion of English law and civility,'' he was diverted 
from the immediate pursuit of the object by aft 
insurrection in the North of Ireland. Sir Oahir 
CDofaerty) the prince of ^ishowen, << a man of 
great hopes but few years,''f determined to assert 
his independence, and to fling off the galling av^ 
preiosusj of English kiws and customs. His in- 
surrection oemirred in 1668, and fbr five months 
wdire B, very threatening aspect He Surprised 
the town of Deny, and slew the goveraor, Sit 



• The Irish chiefs possessed the suzerainte but not the 
property of the soil : consequently tJie guilt of O'Neill 
and 0*DonneU, though even so cl^ly jMX)ved, could not 
a€^t the riglit of their ^eudptoiies, who were not even ac- 
cused of treason. The English law of forfeiture, in ittelf 
suf&ciently unjust, never declared that the interests qf 
innocent tenants should be sacrificed for the rebellion t^f 
the landlordB ; it only placed the king in the place <tf the 
parf(m'wh<we property had been. forfeited, and l^t.ail 
the.r^tiqng of the tenantry unaltered. Yet were lUl 
the actual holders of lauds in these devoted districts dis- 
possessed without even the shadow of a pretence ; and 
tills abominahle wickedness is even at the present day 
eulogised by many as the oonsununation of political wis- 
dom — De Beaumont's Ireland, vol. 1, Tramlator'« note 
to p. 57. 

t Cox, vol. 2, p. 13. ' r- T 

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48 THS CONFISCATION OF ULSTUU 

George Pankt; he took Tarioua EagHsh aU* 
tions, and continued a vigorous guerilla warfare, 
until ** a happy shot, which smote him on the 
head, settled that business/' Bis followers dis- 
persed after his death, and any who fell into the 
hands of Uie English were executed '' with a ne* 
cessary severity.''* This was the last blow struck 
in Ulster, which thenceforward presented a scene 
of loyalty and desdation excellently suited to 
the reforming spirit of the king. A large tract 
of land in the six northern counties, Tyrowen, the 
principality of O'Neill; Coleraine or Derry, 
O'Cahan's country ; Donegal, the principality of 
O'Donnell ; Fermanagh, McGwire's country ; 
Cavan, O'Reilly's country ; and Armagh, fell to 
the lot of James by a forced construction of the 
law of forfeiture and escheat* The suppression 
of O'Dogherfy's insurrection cleared the way 
to the completion of the policy of fraud and vio- 
lence by which a splendid country was torn from 
its just possessors ; by which the old laws of pro- 
perty were overturned, and an ancient people 
banished from the dwellings of their fathers. 
By these rebellions or these "sham plots," five 
hundred thousand acres escheated to the crown — . 
a foreign law handed over the domains of the 
fugitive Chiefs to the " king's passion for re*> 
forming Ireland by the introduction of English 
civility ;"t and we shall soon see how fully l^e 
indulged this passion, and how much at the ex<- 
pense of his Insh subjects. . » ■ ^ 

• Lelaad, vol. %p.4a». * - * 

t Xidand, voL 2, p. 424. The histeriMi it an eaodkaft 
apologist of robbery. 

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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTXK. 49 



CHAPTER in. 

Tke^eij^Mt of !PiMi«»tiioti-^Attetnpted PUmtation of Sir 

; Tttfoatifi Bixalh-uaS tkm Sari of £ssex-.The War of 

jDesmQiidr^.^uQ9ter pacified— Plantation of Muoster — 

Settlement of the Montgomeries in the Ardes of Down, 

TiTE plflTiiation of James, thougb the most con - 
sum mate ami finished of all the Irish plantations, 
iraa by no Tuenna an original thonghL From 
the first settleDiant of tlie English in Ireland, 
they had but one ohject^^-fAe? acquitsitiou of estates 
at the expmse of the naiivesn Hence the latter 
were always considered in the light of enemies, 
^ho vrcre to be exterminated ; or barbariana, 
who were to be civilized by the gimple process 
of rohbery. Religion gave another excuse to 
fraud and pluTider ; the CatholicSj who were the 
owners of the soil, chiefs and people, required 
the purifying Influencea of the Eefomaation, and 
these the J received by the confiscation of their 
lands, and the violent seizure of their property. 

Whatever was the pretence, the end waa the 
eame. To punish '* disloyal rebels and traitors" — 
to civilize a barbafous people— to establish true 
religion ; — for such wise and Christian purposes 
then=s appeared to the English government \n 
Ireland, and the *^htmgry vultures that haunted 
the Castle/* no surer means thon to rob and de- 
fraud the natives, to root thsem put by^ thA.^9x>rd, 
Uii4o»pfan» SooMiliiMt^ aiAlfCiiglishmeh itt>^^ 

^ Digitized by Google 



60 TH3S COWFISCATION OF CLSTfcR. 

aneieot bome& And there are not w^ntteg 
t>hilosophic historians who look complaceiitlj oa 
this process of ciyilization, and piou» cKvines 
who can see nothing but the extension of ttue 
religious principle in acts of wholesale national 
spoliation.* 

The reign of Elizabeth, so pregnant with every 
form of oppression, was abundant in instances of 
the Bjftlematio spolialdon tc which the nairie of 
Plantation has been given ; and it is expedi^t 
bc&)re proceeding to dbdail the projects and per- 
formances of James, that we should give a cursory 
glance at the attempts made by his sensual, selfish, 
^i4 despotic predecessor, f 

Cox presents us with the germ of systematic 
plunder. *' He says l^t sa far back as the year 
1559 it was one of the instructions given to the 
Earl of Sussex when he came over as Lord De- 
puty " to peo^e Ulster wilti English." But Sus- 
sex was suffiokntly engaged in Leinster, whdre 
JtxQ had reduced Leix aa^ Offally into ^ii^e land 
by the name of King's and Queen's County, «ad 
where he was spreading civilization by th^ ttsti^ 

* Hume, Hallara, and Eeid passim. Beid is a Presby- 
terian, one of the old Scotch spawn of James's Flanta- 
. tion. It would be strange if, m his impartial eyes l&e 
scheme of plunder which James executed wovid not^flnd 
special favour ; and it has. . . ..v\^ 

t In 1582, Sir John Perrott presented to Elizahih 
his ** opinion for the suppressing of rebelhon, and the 
well governing of Ireland," in which he recommends 
the cutting down the wood for the navy and the.^ttie- 
ft?wit of shipwrights in convenient places, Cork,^ I^QUghal, 
Wexford, and Belfast. Nothing appears to havecjffijie 
from this plan of an useful plantation. It was i^f Iffl^ 
liciently acquisitive for the taste of the Queen*s aSVisers 

Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



T»« CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 61 

agencies of fire and sword, and he had n<y time to 
fulfil these commands of the English coort. An 
offer was, however, made ten years later by Sir 
Thomas Gerrard of Lancashire for the planting 
€^ the Glynnes and Clandeboy. His proposal is 
of the date of the 15th March, 1569.* Btit, 
liowever agreeable any scheme of the kind might 
have been to the taste of the court, no steps 
were at that time taken in pursuance of Ger« 
rard's proposition. 

The first attempt that was absolutely^ mftde 

, was that of Sir Thcnnas Smith, the Secretary to 
the Queen, in 1572. Sir Thomas Smith was of a 
speculative turn and had a family to provide ibr. 
fie did not look ftbroad for foreign settlements, f 
but ccmceived the sensible noticm of making an 
ample provision f(H: a bastard son, by a grant of 
Irish lands ; and circumstances favoured his pa- 
ternal intentions. In the Parliament of 1569 
Shane O'Neill had been attainted for varicNis 
treasons, conspiracies, and rebellioQS, and a grcfat 
fiirt of his territories of Antrim aaoA Down bftd 
b««D forfeited to the Crown. From the GljmiMes 
of Antrim to the Ardes of Down, all passed by 
this forfeiture, and Sir Thomas Smith repre- 
sented to the Queen the propriety of colonising 
the forleited estates with English settlers, irho 
having an interest in the soil^ would be willing 

f ifp oppose the natives without expense to the 



;rley*8 account of the *< Dominion of Famej in 
:Mom of Ulater," p. 47. This is an exoeUemt 

itpiy 

[^d, vol. % p. 253. 




d by Google 



52 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER 

Crown.* The adventurous youth was commis- 
sioned to lead his colony into the Ardes in Down — 
an ancient territory of the O'Neills. It is a 
peninsula eighteen miles long. To every foot- 
man of his goodly company of plunderers were 
granted one hundred and twenty acres ; to every 
horseman one hundred and forty at the moderate 
rent of a penny by the acre. The result was 
that the districts they settled in became a wil- 
derness of savage warfare ; when unfortunately for 
Ae interests of "English civility" and of the 
youthful planter, " the whole design was defeated 
by the assassination of young Smith, who fell by 
the treachery of one of the O'Neills." f 

Another, and equally unsuccessful, attempt to 
plant Ulster, was made in 15Y3, by a more dis- 
tinguished minion of the Queen, Walter Deve- 
reux, Eart of Essex. Elizabeth embarked with 
that noble Earl in his project of colonizing Clan- 
aodh-buidhe, in Ubter.J The first attempt at 

• lingard, vol. 8, p. 127 ; a bargain in which the 
planter pays, by whcdesale murder, for the privilege of 
wholesale robb^j. This creates natural]^ an int»est 
in the soil I 

t Leland, vol. 2, p. 254. We shall presently lee how 
Essex dealt with " one of the O'Neills." 

X Amongst the crimes which stain the memory of Eli- 
zabeth, one of the worst is that of having been a partner 
of Sir John Hawkins, the great seaman, in prosecuting 
the slave trade. I mention it, because it indicates that 
cupidity of nature and that indifference to human suf- 
fering, vrYnith. caused Ireland to endure so much at her 
hands. The renowned mariner, who had, like most of 
the seamen of the day, a dash of the pirate in him, made . 
several voyages to the coast of Africa for negroes— bar- 
tering hides, sugar, and ginger for the human coramo- 

Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



THS CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 53 

colonization had turned a fertile and quiet dig* 
trict into a scene of war and desolation ; and a 
similar attempt with similar results was now to 
be made under the auspices of the Queen and 
the Earl. 

The contract betweeen Essex and Elizabeth is 
variously stated. Lodge in his sketch of ^e 
Earl, states, that Phelim O'Neill had possessed 
himself of a portion of Clan-aodh-buidhe, (or Clan- 
bugh-boy, or Clandeboy,) from which Essex 
undertook to dislodge him, on condition that Eli- 
zabeth would grant to the conquerors and their 
leader one half of the subdued district, for the 
defence of which he stipulated that he would 
maintain for two years, at his own cost, two 
hundred horse and four hundred foot ; and to 
provide himself with the means, he mortgaged 
his estates in Essex to Elizabeth for ten thou- 
sand pounds.* Lingard says, that the agree- 
ment was, that the Queen and the Earl should 
furnish each half the expense, and should divide 
the colony when it should be peopled with 2000 
settlers. This bargain of fraud and crime was 
sealed by Essex with a desperate act of villany. 

dity. In 1567 he fitted out a piratical fleet of six vessels 
for the purposes of this traffic, and it depends much on 
the estimate we have formed of Elizabeth, whether we 
shftir be greatly surprised at leamiug that two of the 
largest pirates belonged to her. This adventure was not 
much more successful than her bargain with Essex — 
Lingard vol. 8, p. 259. The edition of Lingard used in 
this book is Dolman's, London 1844. 

• lingard, vol. 8, p. 128. Mr. Shirley m his excel- 
lent book, says, that the State Paper Office contain* 



54 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

*Gn his arrival in Ulster, he met a most {of- 
midable opposition from Phelim O'Neill, which 
resulted after a great deal of hard fighting &i 
a solemn peace between them. "However," 
say the manuscript Irish annals of Elizabeth^s 
reign, " at a feast wherein the Earl entertained 
that chieftain, and at the end of their good 
cheer, O'Neill with his wife were seized ; the 
friends who attended were put to the sword 

^before their faces; Phelim, with his wife and 
brother, were conveyed to Dublin, where tk^y 
were cut up in quarters, (Anno. 15Y3.) The 
execution gave universal discontent and horror."* 
But this atrocity was of little Service to the Earl's 
plantation. His provisibns were unsound, and 

mamy interestiag documents connected with this, as it 
proved, unfortunate expedition. **A note of the In- 
, denture between the Queen and the Earl of Essex, dated 
July 23, 15th of Elizabeth, touching the moiety of CSttn. 
huboy,*' and a paper amsongst the Carew manvscrrots 
entitled, *' The c^er of Walter, Earle of Essex, touchmg 
the inhabitinge of the North of Ireland." It appears by 
these documents, that Essex received from the Crown, 
a "Grant of the dominion of Clanhuboy, Rowte, Glynnes, 
BanghUns, and all other lands belonging to thoee coon- 
triee in the Earldome of Ulster, and all lands and tene- 
ments from Knockfergus Bay, including the river of 
Belfast directly to the next part of the Loghe end, .from 
theXoghe to the Bann, and so to the sea along the Bann, 
and from the Bann all about the land by the sea coast, 
inolttdinge also the Isle of Kaughlins and all the Isles 
upon the sea ooaste, till Knockfergus Bay and all lands 
within that district." — Shirley's Dominion of Farney, 
p. 4d. 

* Lingard quotes this, and gives credit to its itAte- 
ments, vol. 2, p. 257. Digitized by Google 



TUE CONFISCATION OF ULSTEB. 55 

htB troops ill provided with arms : he was aban* 
doned Idj LcMrds Dacre and Rich, and many other 
gentlemen adventurers, and the authorities in 
Ireland threw every obstacle in his way. He re- 
linquished in disgust his government of Ulster, 
and the lands which he had seized upon reverted 
to their old possessors, a Scotch clan of the Mac 
Donnells, who had made settlements there and 
intermarried with the natives.* The only relics 
of the attempted Plantation, the only blessings it 
IdSt behind were the founders of the noble fami- 
Hfs of Downshire, Templetown, and Massarene. 

' Others also of the officers of Essex, less noble, 
i«iQ^ined i such as the Dal ways and the Dobbs, 

^&c. • I^either Essex nor his mistress profited 
much by this foray. 

The greatest Plantation (before that of James) 
ifirtts that which enstied at the teiwination of die 
war against the last Desmond, and after the entk^ 
destruction of his princely house* The great earl 
pcflsesded Tast estates^ upon which the e3res of tho 
English adventurers and undertakers had long 
heen lovingly cast. In Kerry, Cork, Waterford, 
and Limerick, his prodigious principality exten- 
ded over 150 miles, and contained 574,624 acres, 
'x>ii which were built numerous houses and casUes. 

^]? Walter Derereux died suddenly in Dublin, some 

'"1 poisoned by the procurement of Leicester, who had, 
ng Essex's absence in Ireland, two children byhis 
iiess Countess. There is a great deal of immoral 
4l^' about the matter, which will be found in a note 
Eangard's Hl^ry, rd. 8, p. 19». Misabeth was 

much annoyed with Leicester's intrigue with the^Copn- 
&}Mis.a^'Biit ^LdcBstor wis 4heA in lugh flavour wi^ tho 

maiden Queen. o,,.edby Google 




56 THE CONFISCATION OP ULSTER. 

This extensive territory was covered with great 
herds of cattle and presented an aspect of high 
cultivation. The Earl was Lord Palatine of 
Kerry, and Lord of Imokilly. His vassals were 
numerous and there were ahove 500 gentlemen 
of his ancient lineage.* He possessed various 
rights of tolls, wrecks and other royalties. His 
barbaric wealth and ^lendonrwere too tempting, 
to escape the acute and watchful spoliators who 
formed the retinue of English government in 
Ireland — ^his doom was sealed by his very great- 
ness ; nor did the par^izans of government affect 
to deny that his estates were too enormous and his 
dignities too numerous to be enjoyed by a subject. 
At the commencement of the great Geraldine 
war, the earl had stood aloof ; he had denounced 
the atrocities committed by his brother Sir John 
Desmond ; but his professions of royalty were 
disregarded, and Sir William Pelham, the Lord 
Deputy, f summoned him to surrender himself a 
prisoner within 20 days. He refused, for he 
well knew what his fate would have b^ if he 
were mad enough to trust himself to the hands of 
an English Deputy. **It is quarrel and cause 
enough to bring a sheep that is fat to the 
shambles." J He was thus precipitated into war, 



" *He levied coyne and livery upon his tcnaautf in 
Limeri<^. He had all liie wreckB of the tea in the ports 
and creeks of Kerry, and a certain sum oat of every fish* 
ing boat in the port of Ventry and Ferreter's Island. It 
was said that he was able to raise, at a call, 2000 fool 
and 600 hOTse."— SmtM's History of Cork, voL 1, p. 54^ 
t Taykw's ** CivU Wars," vol f. p. 197. ^ - 

i Fuller ; quoted in " CivU Wfasr,MLmooQ\Q 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 57 

whicli be waged with great spirit and energy 
against Pelham, and afterwards against the in- 
human Grey. Never in the annals of cruelty, 
not in those of Pizzaro and Cortes or any other 
of those foul adventurers who under the banners 
of the Cross performed all the atrocities of hell, 
has the jivar with Desmond been equalled for its 
horrors.* 



* ** After Desmond's death, and the entire suppression 
of his rebellion, unheard-of cruelties were committed on 
the provincials of Munster (his supposed former adhe- 
rents) by the English commanders. Great companies 
of theee provincials, men, wwnen and diildren, were 
often forced into castles and other houses, which were 
then set on fire. And if any of them attempted to 
escape from the flames, they were shot or stabbed, by 
the soldiers, who guarded them. It was a diversion to 
these monsters of men, to take up infants on the point 
of their spears, and whirl them about in their agony ; 
apologizing for their cruelty by saying, that * if they 
suffered them to grow to live up, they would become 
popish rebels.* Many of their women were found hang- 
ing on trees, with their childen at their breasts, strangled 
with the mother's hair." — Lombard. Comment, de Hibem. 
p. 535, &c. The killing of infants and ripping up of 
women appear a favourite device of brutal English 
cruelty. A historian, certainly not partial to Ireland, 
wys ** That Sir WiUam St. Leger, (Lord Preadent of 
Munster,) was so cruel and merciless, that he caused men 
and women to be most execrably executed ; that he or- 
dered amongst others a woman great with child to be 
ripped up, from whose womb three babes were taken out, 
through every one of whose little bodies his soldiers thrust 
their weapons.** — Carte's Ormond, v<ri. 3, p. 51. Yet 
this great brutality is not original to the barbarians of 
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; its practice may 
have been left in England with other momunents of the 
most savage of her many conquerors, the Danes. 

•• Let it not be imagined that our Irish annalists have 
p3 



58 THE CONFISCATIOBT OT UL8TEB. 

Leland says, that Desmond who had -engaged 
in the rebellion inconsiderately, (and from a man 
«o purely English in his politics, this may be 

drawn an exaggerated picture of Danish barbarities. 
The English historians pourtray their cruelties in equally 
strong colours. The cruel Gutrum, (says one of the^e 
historians,) arriyed in England, a.d. 878, with an 
army of heathenish Danes, eq^ually cruel as himself, 
who, like barbarous savages, destroyed all before them 
with fire and sword, involring cities, towns and villages 
with their inhabitants in devouring flames, and cuttii^ 
those in pieces witi^ their battle-axes who attempted to 
escape from their burning houses. And again, hoary- 
headed old men were seen lying with their throats cut 
before their own doors, the streets covered with lAe 
bodies of young men and children without heads, hands, 
or feet, and of matrons and virgins who had been j^t 
puUickly dishonoured, and then put to death, and 
mdecently exposed to public gaze." — X Wallingford 
apud Gale, p. 536. ** These barbarians, say the Eng- 
hsh writers, were accustomed to tear babes from the 
bosoms €i their mothers, toss them up into the air, a«d 
catch them in their descent^ on the points of their 
spears, as if cruelty and infanticide were sports congeniJEil 
to their souls." — Anglia Sacra, t, 2. p. 155. The Eng- 
lish in their campaigns in Ireland appear to have been 
animated by relentless enmity to the natural fbrtilHy 
of the country : — ** The soldiers,*' as we learn from 
Moryson, ** encouraged by the example of their officers, 
every where cut down the standing corn with their 
swords, and devised every means to deprive the wretched 
inhabitants of all the necessaries of life. Famine was 
judged the speediest and most efl^ual means of roe- 
ducing them. The like expedient was practised in tfie 
northern provinces. The governor of Carrickfeigus; :>8ir 
Arthur Chichester, issued from his quarters, and for 
twenty miles round reduced the country to a desstt. 
Sir Samuel Bagnal, with the garrison of Newry; jj^ 
ceeded with the same severity, and laid waste allr the 
acQaccnt lands.*' — M*Skimmin's Carriekfergus, p. Mct^ 



THE CQNFISCATION OF UX.STSII. j$9 

taken as aa exculpation^) now saw " the wjiole 
extent of his territory ravaged and depopulated 
without mercy. His mis^able vassals were aban- 
doned to daily slaughter, or to the still more 
horrid calamity of famine."* Fire, famine, 
and slaughter were let loose upon the doomed 
districts, and the worse than cannibal English 
soldiers relentlessly destroyed men, women, and 
infants. One of the plunderers who afterwards 
profited by the spoil of the Geraldine, and whose 
sweet poet^T' has earned for him a fame for gen- 
tleness, his pcditical writings scarcely merit, has, 
in terse and picturesque kn^age, chronicled the 
horrors which made hi$ fbrtiine. f Amongst the 
most dist^guished for* rapaci^ and bloodthirs- 
tiness in this campaign was Sir Waiter Raleigh ; 
he executed every bloody order he received from 
Grey without remorse ; and when we remember 
bis conduct in Ireland we are almost involunta- 
rily reconciled to that sure but slow dispensation 
of providence which at length reached and 
crushed him. j; 

/ The house of Desmond fell before the arms of 
England, and its last Earl met an obscure and 

' jpaiM^^V death at the hands of a traitor whose 

ir..'t m'. 

f 1 ttldaad, vol. 2, p. 277. 

^n^ffsGiild^ Fort stirrendered at discretion. Grey decided 
■oonsn^evuti^le, and (M^ered the garrison to be butchered. 
)iBalfii|fh executed the butchery ; and the gentle Spenser 
J ^fieodedlt* He calls Grey ** the good Lord." 
■i'^: }#^,«( lingular propriety, he was found guilty of 
^tBMoafi ke had not committed, and ordered for execution 
'kn th««a6anwt tyrant that ever swayed a sceptre . There 
,^misimktto redeem his early crimes. He was an orna- 
ment ^ literature, a good historian, and a graceful p**» 



60 TBE OONFISCATION OF ITLSTEB* 

name has been preserved to infamy.* His death 
ended the war though not the butcheries of the 
soldiers, and when Munster was pacified by 
extermination, (the most feasible mode of pacifica- 
tion as yet adopted,!) and the Queen was declared 
to be reigning over ashes and carcases, the Farlia* 
ment was summoned, 1585, and the late Earl of 
Desmond was attainted. A feoffment made by 
him was produced to save the forfeiture, which 
was said to be of a date prior to the rebellion % 
there were some honest men in the house, and 
they were about to decide in favour of the point. 
But an orignal document, being the minute of an 
association to be formed against the Queen's 
government, was produced by the crown, bear- 
ing date before the feoffment. The document 
was received and the feoffment was declared frau- 
dulent, though after the drawing up of ^e for- 
mer and before the latter, Desmond had sub- 
mitted and had been received into favour. The 
late Earl of Desmond and about one hundred and 
forty of his associates were then attainted, and all 
their honours and estates declared to be for- 
feited, f 

* Daniel Kelly of Morierta. He was, thongh fitst re- 
warded for his servioes, afterwards banged at l^boiB. 

f Moore's ** Captain Rock," p. 50, a good history of 
Ireland. 

X An inquistion was afterwards held to discover the 
persons who were engaged in Desmond's rebellion. The 
following list may be interesting; and it must be re- 
membered that nearly all these were attahited : — ** Pa« 
trick Condon, of Cloghleigh, esq. ; Sir John Desmond, 
knt. ; John Pigott, esq. ; Sir John Fitz-Gerald, knt.; Sir 
Jam^s Fitz-Gerald, knt. ; Edmund ¥itz-Gerald Fitz- 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 61 

The plunder which fell to the lot of the Queen 
aad her English subjects was enormouslj large* 
DesiHond's estates alone amounted to over half 
a million of acres. And thus, to use the Ian- 
Gibbon, of Curribehy ; Edmund Power, of BaUyion. 
Dontiough Mac Cormac Oge, of Loughfaily ; Dermot 
Oge O'Leary, of Carrignecuragh ; Richard i'itz-Garret, 
of Drumada; Dermot Mac Edmund Oge, of Bantry; 
Teig Mac Edmund Oge, of the same ; Conogher Mac 
Danid Mac Bory, of the same ; Teig Mac Dani^ Mac 
Rory, of the same ; Teig Roe Mac Fineen, of the same ; 
Dermot Mac Eineen, of the same ; Eugene Mac Fineen, 
of the same'; Daniel Mac Conogher Mac Mahony, of 
Rossbrin ; Maurice Fitz-Gterald, of Carigoline ; IJIick 
Barret, of Curribehy ; Cormac Mac Carty ; Dai Id Mac 
Gibbon, of Coshnekily ; Maurice Fitz-Edmund Garret 
of Rathcourcy; John Fitz-Garret Mac Shane of the 
Great Wood ; Gibbon Roe Mac Shane Oge, of the same ; 
Conogher O* Mahony, of Castlemahon ; Rory O'Do- 
noghoc, of Ross-Donoghoe : John Barry, of Ballygoran ; 
James Mac Conogher, of Drumbeg ; James Fitz.John, 
of Poulinkerry ; John Fitz-David Condon, of Kilbree ; 
Richard Fitz-David, of Rahenisky ; Feneen Mac Art, of 
Downbolloge; Gerald Fltz-Richard, of Ballynaclashy ; 
Art Mac Donnel Mac Art, of Glanprehan ; Thady O'Keif, 
of Knockaregan ; Edward Barry, of Bragoge ; Richard 
Magner, of Castle-magner ; John Fitz-Edmond, of BaJly- 
marter: John Fitz-James Fitz-Edmond, of Tymacmague ; 
Garret Fitz-Richard Fitz-Morris, of Baliintemple ; John 
Fitz-Garret, of Dromada; Martin Fitz-Richard Fitz- 
Gibbon, of Curribehy; John Fitz-Edmond, of Bally- 
crenan ; Patrick CaUaghan, of Clonmeene ; Richard 
Rynferk, of Rinkinfecky ; Garret Fitz-John, alias Mac 
B«ifcBn80Q, of Ballymacudy; John Supple, of Ighter- 
marragh ; Fordorough Mac William Mac Brian, of 
Kitaiatonigfa; William White, of Wbite's-island; Edmund 
FitSuWilUam Oge, of Garran-James ; Richard Mac 
M^vris, of Lisquinlan ; Gerald Supple, of Ightermuragh ; 
Thoftias Mac Carty, of Kilbolane; Theobald Roch, of 

Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



62 T»E eonFi$c\xio$i of ui.9Tbb. 

goage of her admirers, was every obstacle Z6- 
moved to Elizabeth's favourite scheme of re- 
peopling Munster (after having burned its 
towns, destroyed the dwellings of its people, 
and depopulated its broad lands) with an English 
colony. She forthwith ordered letters to be 
written to every county, to encourage the beg-* 
garly cadets of families to become undertakers in 

Creg; James Gare, of the Island of Inchydonny; Teig 
Miihian, of Owny O'Mulrian. In the same Inquisition, 
the manor of Glyn, alias Cullin, the castle and 30 car- 
rucats of land of Cloghroe, the island of Inchydonny, 
and the ancient corporation of Bally nemony, were found 
to belong to the Queen. 

The same jury enquired into the death of James Bar- 
ret, of Barret's country, and made a return thereof. 

They also presented the names of aU persons whom 
they suspected were apt to work mischief, and were ill 
disposed to the goremment. They also made a return 
of aU the abbeys and religious houses wMch were in tUb ^ 
county, and became annexed to the crown. They pre- 
sented the names of such persons, in tiiis county (Cwk), 
as held lands of the Queen, by knights service in capite ; 
and died, leaving their hcdrs in minority, with Ihequantity - 
and value of tXL such lands. They returned all such aa 
alienated their lands without license; also, an aoeou&i 
of lands concealed from her majesty iB this county,*, 
which fell to the crown by escheat, attainder, suppres* 
sion of abbeys, and who were then in possession of theia. 
At the same time, there is another presentm^t of the^ 
grand jury of this county, shewing how, and in what 
manner, the earl of Desmond's rents were paid; and a 
list of all the Irish poets, chroniclers, and rhymers, that 
were then in this county. All which presentments are^ 
preserved in the Lambeth library, according to a ca^, 
talogue of them among the MSS. in the library of TrU 
nity College, Dublin — Smith's History of Cork, vo^. 1. 
pp.31. 52. . 

Digitized by VjOOQI£ 



THE Confiscation of tJi.8TEit. 63 

Ireland.* The forfeitures were divided into 
seigDories, and granted by letters patent to 
English knights, esquires, and gentlemen, and 
they undertook to perform certain conditions 
mentioned in the Queen's articles for the planta- 
tion of the province. Hence the ominous name 
of Undertaker, Seven years were given to 
effect this desirable crusade of ** civility" and 
reformation. The following is an abstract of 
these conditionsf : — 

** *• AU forfeited lands were to be divided into manors 
and seigniories^ containing 12,000, 8,000, 6,000, and 
4,000 acres each, according to a plot laid down. The 
undertakers to have an estate in fee farm, yielding for 
each seigniory <^ 12,000 acres, for the first l^ee years, 
J£33 6t. 8d. sterl., viz. from 1500 to 1593, and from 
Mich. 1593, £^ 13s. 4d. sterL, and rateably for every 
inferior seignlOTj, yielding, upon the death of the under- 
taker, the best beast, as an heriot. To be discharged 
of all taxes whatsoever, except subsidies levied by par- 
liament. Bogs, mountains, &c. not to be included, till 
improved, and then to pay |d. for each English acre. 
licence to the undertakers to transport all commodities, 
duty tree, into England, for five years. That none be 
admitted to have more than 12,000 acres. No English 
planter ta he permitted to convey to any meer Irish, 
JEvery owner of 6,000 acres to impark 600 for the breed- 
*ng of horses, &c., and the other seigniories, a rateable 
ptop^tioii. The head of each plantation to he English, 



-' ** There is an elaborate argument in the Desiderata 
Ctiriosa Hihemica on a subject not apparently requiring 
itteh logic, namely, that it would be highly beneficial 
tt^'Votmger brothers to hare a sliare in the confiscations. 
^Des. Sih.'Cur. 

t Quoted in Smith's «* History of Ck>rk" from a manu- 
script in Lismore« Digitized by Google 



64 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

and the heirs females to marry none but of English birth; 
and none of the meer Irish to be maintained inanyfamikf 
there. 

** * Each freeholder, from the year 1590, to famish one 
horse, and horseman armed. Each principal undertaker 
for 12,000 acres, to supply three horsemen and six foot- 
men, armed ; and so rateably, for the other seigniories ; 
and each copy-holder, one footman, armed. That for 
seven years to come, they shall not be obliged to travel 
out of Munster, upon any service ; and after that time, 
no more than ten horsemen and twenty footmen, out of 
one seigniory of 12,000 acres, and so rateably; and such 
as serve out of Munster, to be paid by the queen. 

***That the queen will protect and de^nd the said 
seigniories, at her own charge, for seven years to come. 
All commodities brought from England, for the use of 
the same seigniories, to be duty free, for seven years. 
The acres to contain 16 feet and ^ to the perch, after the 
manner used in England. Dated 27th of June, 1586, 
28 Eliz.* 

** The plot of the queen's oflEer for the peopling of 
Munster : 

** * For a seigniory containing 12,000 acres the gentle- 
men were to have, for their own demesnes, 2, 100 acres. 
Six farmers, 400 acres each. Six freeholders, 100 acres 
each; and lands to be appropriated for mean tenures 
(of 50, 25, 10 acres), 1,500 acres ; whereon 36 families, 
at least, must be estabUshed. The other seigniories, of 
8,000, 6,000, and 4,000 acres, were laid out in the same 
manner, in proportion. Each undertaker was to people 
his seignfory in seven years.*" 

These bountiful terms were construed with 
great liberality on behalf of some of the most 
deserving of the Queen's servants in Ireland. 
Though 12,000 acres were fixed on as the lai^est 
undertaker's portion, the Queen, remembering 
his services at Golden Fort, granted to Sir 
Walter Raleigh, 42,000 acres in Cork and Water- 
ford. The letters patent to Raleigh are dated 



TBE CONFISCATION OF OLSTEB. 



65 





6,000 acroa 




6,000 „ 




6,000 „ 




18,000 „ 




. 6,674 „ 




. 12,000 „ 




12,000 „ 




. 6,775 „ 




. 11,766 „ 




. 3,028 „ 




. 6,000 „ 



16th October, 1586. The other grantees of 
note in Cork were, beside Sir Waiter — 

Sir Warham St. Leger,* 

Henry Cuffe, Esq. 

Sir Tlios. Norris, 

Arthur Bobbins, . 

Sir Arthur Hyde, 

Fane Beecher, Esq., 

Hugh Worth, Esq., 

Thomas Say, Esq., 

Arthur Hyde, Esq^ 

Edmund Spenser, 

Sir Richard Bacon, 
The grants in Limerick, Kerry, Tipperary, and 
Waterford were very great. 

In Kilcoleman Castle, near Doneraile, in the 
County of Waterford, which had been one of 
the ruined residences of the Earl of Desmond, 
and which stood on the banks of a fine lake in 
the midst of a vast plain, terminated to the east 
by the Waterford Mountains, Spenser wrote a 
great deal of his Fabric Queene. '* It must have 
been," says Smith, " (when the adjacent uplands 
were wooded) a most pleasant and romantic 
^ituation/f The same writer adds, that it is a 
pity *' that some friendly stone, which might be 
placed at a small expense in the ruin of the 
-Castle, does not point out its once immortal 
inhabitant.*' His State of Ireland is probably 
li snffieient memorial of the poet. 

The date of Spenser's grant — " his exile to a 

* Ancestor of the ViBcounts Doneraile. He was killed 
ne^r Cork, in a battle with Hugh Maguire, Chief of 
Perroanagh, 4th March, 1600. 
' t History of Cork, vol. !., p. 333. ^^'-^ 



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66 TPE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

region of barbarism," as the compilers of the 
" Encyclopedia Britannica'* civilly say — ^wa& 
1586. In the great war of the Irish League^ 
his house at Kilcoleman was attacked by the 
" rebels," and the poet escaped, leavinor behind 
one of his infants, who was destroyed in the 
conflasrration ensninfr upon the attack. "Wortt 
down by the calamity^ and ruined in circura^ 
stances, he died in an inn in Kin ^-street, Westi 
minster, in 1598—9, and was buried near the 
grave of Chaucer (where he had always ex- 
pressed a wish to lie), at the expense of the 
unfortunate Robert, Earl of Essex. Ben Jonsoo^ 
in his conversations with Drummond, stated^ 
"that the Irish, having robbed Spenser^s goods, 
and burned his house, and a little child newly 
born, he and his wife escaped ; and after, he died 
for lack of bread in King-street, and refused 
twenty pieces sent by my Lord of Essex, and. 
said *he was sorrie he had no time to spend 
them/ " One would pity the gentle poet, but 
that the calamity he met with "originated in his 
own rapacity of disposition, for being dissatis- 
fied with his large grant of 3,000 acres, he at- 
tempted to add to their amount by oppression 
and injustice to the poor people around, and it 
was vengeance, and not what they called ** rebels- 
lion," which brought this great misfortune to his 
door. His " State of Ireland" was not published 
for thirty-five years after his death.* 

The most striking feature in the conditions of 
this Plantation was, the exclusion of the owners 
of the soil from even the subordinate station of 
♦ Encycloped. Brit. vol. 20, p. 534, 7th ed. 



THE CONFlSCATIon OF DLSTfift. 67 

tenantry. No Irish were to be admitted* to 
Btand in that humble relation to the saccessfal 
plunderers who usurped their lands — a provision 
of tyranny possibly the most impudent that ever 
was made. But it was disregarded; and histo- 
rians of the school of Hume and Leland have 
the coolness to regret that the Plantation of 
Munster was a failure, because Raleigh, Hatton, 
Norrrs, St. Leg^, Bouchier, and others of note, 
who shared most largely in the enormous fruits 
of spoliatioii, did not respect the wise provisions 
of " the plot of the Queen's oflfer;" and because, 
Leland says, '* leases and conveyances were made 
to many of the Irishry."*!" In many instances the 
lands were abandoned to the old possessors ; 
end where the undertakers entered upon their 
seignories, they did not reside, but appointed 
idle, ignorant, corrupt, and oppressive agents. 
Neither did they comply with a still more neces- 
sary and wise condition of the " Queen's plot," 
namely, to make provisions for effectual defence. 
They were thriftless gamesters, these under^ 
takers; they would enjoy as largely as they could 
the property of the people, but they were not 
honest enough to discharge the noble duties of 
proprietorship, nor wise enough to make due 
provision against the natural and just enmity 
of those whose plunder had enriched them. 
Behold a signal example of their story ! — 
The most brilliant of these honourable robbers, 
-jEdmund Spenser, died a broken-hearted beggar 

r- 5 .The hmguage of some modem English adrertise- 
loeiita, it «i^»ear8, is historical. 

t Leland, vol. ii., p. 302. Digitized by Google 



68 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER 

in London, the capital of that country which he 
so splendidly enriched by his genius. What 
availed him then his three thousand acres in an- 
cient Desmond? 

The Munster Plantation, then, may be said to 
have entirely failed in its objects. The subse- 
quent war of 1641* very materially unsettled 
the condition of things which the contrivers of 
the Plantation sought to establish — ^it neither 
naturalized in the south the Protestant religion, 
nor plwited there an English population. It 
failed to fulfil the humane view of its devisers. 
It did not extirpate and utterly destroy the na- 
tive growth of the soil — ^the strong Celtic tree 
that bends to the blast but is not broken, with- 
stood the mighty shock — and failing in this it 
still more signally failed to effect what was after 
all but the base and lying pretence of the English 
legislation of these days, the introduction of a 
new "civilitie" amongst the unenlightened and 
barbarous natives. 

We have now seen something of the system- 
atic Plantations which preceded our immediate 
subject. But there were some other settlements 
of a different nature, of which, to make our 
view complete, it is proper to give a fuller 
notice. 



• I am happy to say, that Mr. Chas. Duffy is charged 
with the duty, congenial to his patriotism and his feel- 
ings, and suited to his genius, of vindicating this great 
uprising from the fantastic calumnies of the fools of 
bigotry and the lies of history. The theme of a future 
volume of this library will be the ** Rising of the North 
in 1641." 

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THB CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 69 

The fine, fertile, and generous soil of Ulster, 
probably because it was nearest to Scotland, the 
prolific mother of undertakers^ appears to have 
been the favourite ground of planting specula- 
tion.* There the maiden hands of Gerrard, 
Smith, and Devereux were tried, and there the 
sweet taste of confiscation was acquired and 
cultivated. 

About the year 1584. a thousand Scottish 
Highlanders, called " Redshanks,*' of the septs 
and families of the Cambiles (probably Camp- 
bells), Macdonnells, and Magalanes, led by Surle- 
boy, a Scottish chieftain, invaded Ulster. Other 
marauding parties of their nation had already 
possessed themselves of the lands of Irish chief- 

* England, however, supplied her share in colonists, 
as we shall see: — *' Early in James's reign a consider- 
able colony had been brought from Devonshire by Sir 
Arthur Chichester, of which one part settled about 
Canrickfergos, and another in the district of Malone, 
adjoining to Belfast, where their descendants are still to 
be dittinguished by their looks and manners^ but particU' 
larly by the air of comfort about their dwellings, and a 
fondness for gardens and orchards. Near Belfast was 
likewise a colony from Lancashire and Cheshire, settled 
there, as it is said, by Sir Moyses Hill; but from Malone 
to Lisbum, and thence over the greater part of the 
barony of Massareene, and the southern part of the 
barony of Antrim, but espedally towards the West, 
the country is mostly occupied by the descendants of 
English setUers, and some Welch, who came over in the 
reign of Elizabeth in great numbers, and also in the 
beginning of James I., with the different great families, 
that at various times obtained grants of land here.*' — 
Dubourdieu*8 Stat. Survey of the County of Antrim, 
Dub. 1812, p. 443, quoted in Historical Collections rela- 
tive to Belfast, pp. 9, 10. ^ , 

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70 THE CONFISCATION OP OUSTKE. 

tains in the Giini^s and the Route in Antrim.* 
It was at the beginning of the fifteenth century 
that the settlement of the Mac Donnells took place 
in Antrim. They were a younger branch of 
the Mac Donalds, who were " Kings and Lords 
of the Isles." One of them, Angus Oge, Lord 
of the Isles, married the daughter of O'Cahane, 
the chief of the O'Cahanes of Arachty. The 
marriage portion this distinguished lady brought 
her husband consisted of a number of "hand- 
some young men," whose posterity are yet in the 
Isles (1789), and are known by the peculiarity 
of their names to belong to that race.| 

John of Isle, the second son of John, Lord of 
the Western Isles, or the '^brides, was established 
at the Glynnes, in Argyleshire ; his descendants 
settled in the north of Ireland, one of whom was 
Alexander, who got a gold sword and silver gilt 
spurs from the Earl of Sussex, in ld57» for his 
services in Scot^nd, and the monastery of Glen- 
arm and its lands were given to him. His son was 
Sorlebuidh (commonly written Surleboy), whose 
son was the first Earl of Antrim. Sc^ebjoidh 
married Mary, daughter of Conn O'NeilL 

These invaders in time intermarried with the 
Irish, and became the most formidal^ enemies 
of England in her designs of settlement It was 
ostensibly to root out this Scottish colony that 
Elizabeth sent Essex to Ireland ; but his failure 
only fixed them more firmly in their place^ and 

* These few facts are stated in A work entitled ** The 
Government of Ireland under Sir John Perrott." Zion- 
don, 1626. See also "Reid's ffietory/* toL i., P* 79. 

t Lodge's Peerage, by Archdtll, voL 7, p. 111. 

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In 1603 James confirmed Sir BonaM Mac Dooaell 
in the principality of the Route. 

But a more singular settlement than this of 
the Scotch Redshanks was one eflfected by pri- 
vate speculation, namely, that of the Montgo- 
meries in the Ardes of Down. The Montgo- 
meries were a fertile and cunning race, but they 
came with clearer hands and a fairer title into 
our country than any of the Scotch or English 
speculators who have elbowed the people out of 
their lands since the English arrival. A pleasant, 
gossippiog narrative is ^' the Montgomery Manu- 
scripts,"* professing, as it does, to be *' An Account 
of the Colonizatioa of the Ardes in the County 
of Down, in the reigns of Elizabeth and James," 
and being, in fact, a collection of biography, 
illustrating the rise and progress of the Mont- 
gomery family, and the successful speculations 
they made in Ulster, where, " foreseeing it to be 
the stage to act upon, it being unsettled, and 
many forfeited lands thereon altogether wasted, 
th^ concluded to push for fortunes/'f From 
this work the facts connected with the fulfilment 
of these laudable expectations are derived. 

The head of this new and important settlement 
in the Ardes, was Hugh Montgomery, the sixth 
Laird (Esquire,) of Braidstane in Scotland ; his 
tkther had married the dai^hter of Montgomery, 

'^ •These Manuscripts, prepared by one ml the fasnily, 
which are collected into a book, and published in Bel- 
fast (at the News^LeUar Office, 1830), originally ap- 
pieared in the colunms of that paper. They deserve 
t^u)»Uoation in an attainable form, 
t Mont* Manuscripts, p* 20. 

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72 THE CONFISCATION OS" ULSTER. 

Laird Haislhead, an ancient family descended of 
the Earls of £glintown« The first laird of the 
name Robert Montgomery, was second son of 
Alexander MontgomeryEarl of Eglintown. Hugh, 
the leader of the Montgomeries into Ireland, was 
thus a well descended adventurer, and in addi^on 
to his good birth, he possessed spirit and talent. 
The circumstances which led to his settlement ift 
Down are these : In 1603, an affray took place 
in Belfast, between a party of soldiers and some 
servants of Conn O'Neill,* who had been sent 
with runlets to bring wine from tiiat town to their 
master, *' then in a great debauch at Castlereagh 
with his brothers, friends, and followers." The 
servants came back with more blood than wine, 
having got into a mel^ with some soldiers, who 
captured the runlets and sent home the mea*- 
sengers with a severe handling. They confessed 
to Conn that they were more numerous than the 
soldiers, on which, "in rage he swore by his 
father and by all his noble ancestors' souls, that 
none of them should ever serve him or his family, 
if they went not back forthwith and did not 
revenge the affront done to him and themselveft 
by those few Baddagh Sasuemuihr The result 
was a violent affray, and some of the soldiers 
were killed. An office of inquest was held upon 
Conn and his followers, and a number of them 

* <' A drunken sluggish man, but he had a sharp 
nimble woman to his wife." Mannscript quoted by 
Keid, vol. 1, p. 86. This lady, it appears, was the person 
who made Conn's bargain with Montgomery, and under 
the circumstances it was a good one, <* for taving hk 
life with a part of his estate was better than to lose aU." 

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rrfiB CONFISCATION OF ULSTBB* 73 

were found guilty of levying war on the Queen. 
O'Neill was sent to prison to Carrickfergus, and 
Elizabeth, in tbe mean time, dying, the Laird 
Montgomery who knew these matters well, with 
thrift speed which became his country, made his 
h'umble applications to the new Scotch Monarch 
for half Conn^s estates, leaving the remainder to 
Oonn hamself. But this modest proposal was not 
accepted, and he hit upon a happier expedient, 
which -was to obtain a grant from Conn O'Neill 
himself of half his lands,* on the condition of 
efibcting his escape and giving him a shelter. 
This escape was eflfected, and Conn went to Scot- 
land, where he was received by the Laird and 
Lady of Braidstane, joyfully and courteously. 
The contract was here consummated, and the 
deeds executed; the original agreements were 
iadorsed and registered in the town council book 
of the Royal Bm^h of Air or Irwine, and the 
original indenture to Montgomery was burned in 
the house of Rosemount, (the residence of the 
compiler or author of the Montgomery Manu- 
scripts) in 1695. The Laird and Conn went to 
Westminster, and the former using his interest 
obtained Conn's plirdoxi. The latter was gra- 
• 
• His territcffy was very extensive, consisting of the 
entire parishes of Breda, Knock, Bdrkdonnell, Holly- 
wood, Donaghdee, Gray Abbey, St. Andrews, and a 
great part of the parish of Drum. The remains of Conn's 
GwUe were to be seen (1817) on the summit of a hill 
near B^&st, and commanding an extensive prospect of < 
the town and surrounding country. A rivulet, by the 
niune of Coon's water, between Belfast and Dundonald, 
was probably called from this Chieftain — Historical 
CoUeetions of Belfast, p. 7. 

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74 !»& C01iFI9CA^IOK OF 4JIi$TS|lf 

obUsty feeeived «i CotiFi^--as c^ers of tb^ rmsm 
vmre receiiF«d there befQre-*-iii»d w^ere ^ye^ 
B&dar the priTj signet for letters patent of tlm 
^eafc fleal of Irelund, <M>iii6raimg hi& Majesty^ 
^easiere in the matter of the grant to Hiigb^ 
Montgomery^ under eondition, (and i^ia ia .t&% 
most remarkahlet chasacti^stuv acid sigiaifiQanlr 
part of ^ese lettei?^ patent^) tkat 4he hmd^ ^u>uld 
ieplemted wM JBrUieb Protestants^ and tkati 
no grant of fee farm ^ should bo made 4a ar^ 
person of mors. Irish extraotdon,^ Some i^haivg^ 
wafi 8iil:^eqiienj%.niade in) t^eae hiiiear$f hj^ 
inftervesticm of a ooartie^ o( Mie name of Sir, 
Jkmes FuUerton^f one of "the lmsie$t ibodiea iis^ 
sM the world is other menV matters whi^ may- 
profit themselres^". wiio, having 9^'. ^0 £^ 
a frknd^ Hr. Jamea Hamilton, and aniious 
to obtain fear him a. share of Conn'$ landf^ 
represented in a «o«rtier'8 wi^r, that the two 
moktits ;gi>anted were too large fpr two mc^ 
forgetting or omitting tl^ small dr/Qum9tance 
that they mexe their own bj r^hit, and preivaijed 
mi the King to make a fresh di^km.< '* Bn% ^ 

* Montgom^fy Matmseripts, p. 89. 

t Mr. M'Qed ■tates, that FaUertoa and Hmiltim 
w^ie engaged in. eduqatioioal puranltSr aiid that th^ 
taught James TJasher, the great Archbishop. Hamilton 
had a ^Fellowship in the University ; but he relinqtiisfced 
the Muses, and took to more profitable purs^tain t^ 
Ardes of Down. — M^Get'a Mah Wtken of th» JSepenJ^ 
teenth Ctntw^, p. 46u Aflter Jam^^'s .acpessioUv.Ful*) 
lerton was knighted, an^ Hamilton was created Xord 
Clandeboy. iJie date of his peerage is 1623. Whilst 
engaged ostensib^ in teaching, chey w^re in faet acting 
as agents to secure the Stuarfc successkm. . , . ' * 

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K^tig sending fitst fbr l^r Hogh^ told kinir (tb«- 
Bpe^ng the reasons aforesaid) for what k)ss'k6 
might receiTe in not getting the fidl half ^ Gonads 
estate, by that defalcation, he wotdd compensate 
him out of the Abbey lands and impropriatioQSy 
which in a few months he was to grant in fe^, 
fhey being ak'eady granted in lease fbor tweti^* 
on# years, and that he would alsaAbBtraet^ out of 
Ckmn't^ half, the Whole great Ardes for kis and 
tltv James Hamilton's behoof, and thvow it into 
their iwo shares; that the sea x^oasts might be 
^>6^6ssed by Scottisb men, who would be traders 
proper £cff his Majest^s future advanta^,tbe 
residue Co be Idd off about Castlereagh (which. 
Cdnn had desired) btin^ too great afafxntrfor 
^mh an IruhmanJ' Hamilton was sent for to 
€kH!irt, and in some lime after lighted, as 
Hugh Montgomery had been before ; Sir James 
FuHerton, the useful go-between, wlio **more 
IffvM ready money, and to lire in court than in 
the wilderness in Ulster," got gold in his purse ; 
ted^ir Hugh Montgoiiiery, Sir James Hamilton, 
iMl €ohn O'Neill es:ecuted tiipartite indenturea 
to the effect of the King's pleasure as above 
intimated ; but by a cunning arrangement of Ha- 
jtfUtJdfi^ the King's patent was passed only to him, 
4fid fe^was declared trustee for Conn O'Neill 

fg ':^i)C ,pugh Montgomery. Though Hugh 
i^tgm^Vj and James Hamilton were created 
kf^hts<at the same time, it was tb^ pleasure of 
ijieWftg that Montgomefy should take the pre- 
e^^^|^y,„]^tig an inheritor under James and 
^tvja^sftl in SootlaJiMi. Besides James saw that 
Hamilton "througb; the efficiency of wit and 

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76 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

> ... 

frioB^skip" — >hU scholarship had done him a 
«eiviee — had made a better bargain than Mont- 
gomery had, and had obtained the better share 
of the dividend though he came later into the field. 
For he had managed in the patent to engross 
ttany more chorch lands tlwrn Montgomery, 
•* and,'* says ah old chronicler, " hfc was so wise 
as to take, on easy terms, endless leases of much 
more of Oonn's liird part, and from other ties- 
patting Irishes than Sir Hugh had done.* These 
Knights having received their well-gotten booty, 
were entided Lord Montgomery of Ardes, aad 
Lord Hamilton of Clwieboy. Verily thcfie ^ noble 
families" seem to be made up cf the very heart's 
blood and sustenance <)f these poor " despairing 
Irishes." 

Conn's welcome on his retua?n home with his 
pardon, thoi^h not immediately referring to the 
aut^ect of this book, la too graphic and dta« 
racteristio of the mannea^ of the day, to he 
omitted :*— 

" Ocaui th«a returned home in triuxof h orer hia «He. 
mies (who thought to have had his Ufe and estate,) 
and was met by his friends, tenants, and followers, the 
most of them on foot, the better sort had gerrans, some 
had pannels for saddles, (we call them back baghams) 
and the greater part of the riders without tiiiem ; and 
but very few spiurs in the troop, yet instead thereof they 
might have thorn prickles in their brogue heels (as is 
nsual), and perhaps not one of the concourse had a nat ; 
but the gentry (for wire) had on their done wode bar- 
rads, the rest might have sorry scull caps, otherwise (in 
reverence and of neoeesity > went cheeifiiUiy ^P«*ing or 
trotting bare-headed. Conn being so oomfiixi^bf^iin 
Dublin equipage) to Castlereagh, where; j?o doubt his 
vassals (tagg-ragg and bob-tail) gave to their Teirne 

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THE COKFISCATION OF ULSTER. 77 

More, Squire Conn, all the, honour and homage they 
could bestow, presenting him with store of beeres, col- 
paghs, sheep, hens, bonny blabber, rusan butter (such 
as it was) ; as for cheese I heard nothing of it, (which to 
this day is very seldom made by the Irish), and there 
was some greddan meal strowans, with snush and bolean, 
as much as they could get to regale him ; where I will 
leave him and them to congratulate each other's inter- 
view, till other occasions to write of him offer them- 
selves."* 

Conn O'Neill, as might be expected, was not 
long left his thirds. For on the 14th March, 
1606, specifying certain considerations, he exe- 
cuted to Sir Hugh Montgomery a feoffment of 
all his lands, and also a deed of sale of the timber 
growing on four of his townlands. The latter 
deed bore date 22nd of August, 1606. 

And now the Montgomery Plantation began 
m right earnest. Montgomery found that the 
land he had succeeded in becoming proprietor of 
was without inhabitants. The " despairing 
Irishes," for the most part, were gone, for good 
reasons that they had ; the soil had been reaped 
with fire and sword, and was desolate ; head 
rents must be paid to the King, and there were 
no tenants to pay them. The parishes were more 
wasted, says the Montgomery Manuscript, than 
America when the Spaniards landed there (the 
comparison is apt); and to repair these evils, 
the Undertakers, " having got a good bargain for 
themselves," made some of their friends and 
^ retainers sharers under them as freeholders and 

• This reception I fear, is but an invention of the 
playful aulhor. He was a Montgomery ; and they who 
win may laugh. 

r 
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78 THE CONFISCATION OF UI/STER. 

labourers. There came several farmers under 
Montgomery, "gentlemen from Scotland,"* of 
the names of Shaws, Calderwoods, Boyds, and 
Keiths. Many Hamiltons followed Sir James, 
" all of them worthy men, especially his own 
brothers;'* and other farmers, as the Maxwells, 
Rosses, Barclays, Moores, Bayleys, and others, 
whose posterity hold there to this day.f By the 
Montgomeries some foundations were made for 
towns, as Newtown, Donaghadee, Comber, Old 
and New Grey Abbey ; and Hamilton also 
founded towns and incorporations, as Bangor, 
HolljTwood, Kilileagh (with a strong castle), and 
Ballywalter. When these things were done, and 
a fair promise thereby given that the new set- 
tlements would have their towns and marts of 
trade, the Scots came there willingly and nume- 
rously, and became tenants and subtenants to 

* There appears in all the Plantations to have existed 
a much greater readiness in the Scotch than in the 
English to participate in the toils and troubles of set- 
tling. ** The English (says the Stuart Manuscript) 
being a great deal more tenderly bred at home 
in England, and having better quarters than they 
could find in Ireland, were unwilling to flock thither. 
Besides, the marshiness and fogginess of the island was 
found unwholesome to English bodies, more tenderly 
bred and in better air." But the Scotch, who could not 
be worse off any where than at home, with its inclement 
clime and reluctant soil, flocked in numbers to the more 
genial air and willing land of the parent country. It 
was at the time thought fortunate that the Highlands 
and Lowlands of Scotland were not more populous, for 
there would not have been room enough, even with a 
few more rebellions and more confiscations, for all that 
could have been spared to Ireland. 

t lUid, vol, i., p. 89. 

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THiE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 79 

thei^ ^iBj^mften, aiid the iUi»)dy ihtmgh not. m0 
iUvvm ckildrmip tams^ to \m peopled «gaiQ:^ 
AflKmgst ^ilioie who aooompuniod Moatgomerjii 
WBve Ftttriok Shaw, Laird of KeUeland; Mjr. 
T^Umia&tNevm, brother to theliaiid of Mgmih^ 
Qodiffift; aai Miv Gunnu^ham, genHei^en, (wh^i 
a^ar io kwm beeki wluit ki Irdtod we now oail 
MooitgameFT'tf >' 9vijB£i lUten^ ; Patrick M0(»«i df 
CNigh; Nein, a»d Q^Jaterwood, to $31 oi whom 
he'grsuilAd^ laMs 4n. fee,£R9rt]^^ i^ the parish of 
Boisi^ideo; O^bero easn^, ttoo, on whoift he 
baatovred imi^Biiwnts in fi^hoM^ antd park3 bjr 
kaa8;.th^7«laiilt^ stoUe JHHise^ and ^jr traded 
to^raom, Mande»,5imd N«lrw«y*| 

* 'trtie account t hav^ given of this Plantatibri is ttiat 
^en by StH^^t, WMdJl'Iftifik Is prefferaMe eitlder tOr 
that <ci Lodge, in Ms ** Peerage of fceiand," or to the 
«« lioafgi^n^ry HStmuSc^is.'' The laenentbOUg!^ very 
valli^erare a fomily blogra$>fay» and h«i^ ailitd 
aitincfions^Eindits foults — eircmenstanHla^y, gossip, self- 
a^tilflt^m, {Biid ti^utene^. 

f Moiiitg. IfiSHS., p. 4&. Thfe Norfe ^^ysyeA att export 
df Kiaaidiieftares and a to^gta trade l<mg before tbi^ 
jpiatittttiotf. Htf surges ^ere ^icported to Italy, and had 
mi&f^'T&paiiid&ti,^SHiart'^ ArfM^h, p. 145; in the 
IMamtihdl of Faztsia Dem Uberti, a Tlorentihe po^t, 
(M57'),'we have* the following testimony i — 

" Simiiimente passamo en Irlanda 
ia ^ual fra noi e degpi di fama 
' , \^ "Per ip nobile saie che qi manda.** \, 

TlW tsantUted^*^ Sa did.w« paaa iofeo Ireland, favotir^ 
s^ljr kn«wn fli . Flosence .£[>r . ^ lecge* wiirtby ol^aUb 
OOBlnitodaiiqn,! whioh^e^ndstoiis^V ISfdtiiaa^vidvi^^ 
able testinaony to the gsmi aolkifett^ Dfoar expoHing 
entei;pri8e. . >.; ^ 

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TION OF ULSl 



ar^hlp bad 
tetter t^argam 
obtained the 
he cnme later i 
in tlie patent 
and3 than Ma 
ponicler, " he wl 
D^^ endless Iimsg 
pnrt, and frofi(i» ( 
ir Hugh had ■ 
*d their well'-iJ 
[ont^jomery 
eboy. Verily till 
ade up of the ve 
)f these poor ^*a 

his return lion 
mediately referrlli| 
is too graphic 
uners of the 



Lome in trjumph i 
LVG had ]ii9 life 
l3i tenaotsi m\d i 
better sort bad l 
we call trheiD ba<?t 1 
he riders without- ' 
troop, yii^t ia»:te&fl It 
s ID thmr brogue ^ 
[le of the concoiinc 1 
bud on their d(Mff ^ 
eoriy scull cups, oti 
y) went clieerfuiliif j 
jnn being eo ci>n|^| 
ilcreagli, whiar^a 
t>b-tail) gave to 





rre^r at Imnd ; and tl 

f% n paJaoe for the gr 

1 out of tha reoiains 

h tbe Ifrst ^rontgt'mc 

:' in ibe land of 6'Nt 

his welKeftnied repo 

fr^f residence; it waa t. 

<us tlieitce supplied wi 

fe» Ihn'ing tii© sui 

li^ed in the week, inU 

m Scotland and Ne' 

ic»tioiis between tb 



(* ticw canal from IjOHj 

1 LEid ttavigatjoiii & fore 

^liBeoTered under groun 

of a^h^ imk, alder^ Jb 

idcr a coTeriDg of carl 

eight foot deep, miLtij 

down one o^er Bnotk^ 

4nd others in a tr^nsvi.! 

tscovejiea of this kind i 

ifiliuid ; and thi^re ift gCAi 

of ticnl>eT buried in 

of tlie first inimbitHTi 

ge and paaturu ; hut i 

been csovercd over b 

le tree* tbctn«<.^\veB, be 

ht bftTe flt^t oecii»ioi 

dlftfiolvt?d vi'itXi repei 

ettTtby irtu'ticlea of 

i^Q natnea of many foi 

'dj and tbcy were in 

be a great inoimbn 

in tbe antiient hlij 

Ra vfdV ttJ fuTTiWl 

tHYert the land into 
and Tohbtt* of tbeii 



,^ 



CO THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

The first arrival of a new population like this, 
coming to occupy the land from which its natu- 
ral owners had been ezpelled bj violence, or out 
of which they had been purchased with money, 
will always present features of peculiar interest. 
In this case the settlers found a desolate and un- 
inhabited peninsula, in the whole of which there 
were not thirty cabins, nor any stone walls; .the 
marks of war and sacrilege met their eyes^-- 
here and there were seen ruined and roofless 
churches, the overturned monuments of ancient 
piety and the violated fanes of ancient peace. 
There were a few vaults at Grey Abbey, and a 
** stump of an old castle" in Newtown, in each of 
which some ** gentlemen from Scotland'' shel- 
toaed themselves at their first coining there. 
But they improved their circumstances shortly ; 
they made cottages and booths; for the sods, and 
the saplins of ashes, alders, and birch trees^* 
with the rushes for tlie thatch, and the bushes 

* The MontgomeTy Manuscripts remark, that the 
original planters found a soil not at all enciunbeied with 
large woods to be felled and grubbed. But LreUnd had 
undergone a great revolution in the department of tlie 
Woods and Forests. *' There was so much wood in Ire- 
land in the earliest ages, that one of the names whi^ 
it had from foreigners wsis, the 'Island of Woods;' 
given to it, say the old historians, by one whom Nino, . 
the son of Bel, sent to discover it. Indeed, by all the 
writings and monuments of ancient time, whethfiur , 
there is any truth in the old Irish saying or not— 
*that it was thrice under the plow-share, thrice it(' 
was wood, and thrice it was bare'—it appears that. 
as lon^ as the land was in possession of the nalive.; 
Irish, It was full of woods on eveiy a^e. llmt in \ 

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TBE CCKFIFCATION OF ULSTER. 84 

for the watUes, were near at hand ; and they 
constructed, as it were, a palace for the great 
chief of the movement out of the remains of 
the old castle ; in which the first Montgomery 
that ever settled himself in the land of O'Neill 
enjoyed for the time his well-earned repose. 
This was Sir Hugh's chief residence; it was six 
miles ffom Belfast, and was thence supplied with 
all the requisites of life. During the sum- 
mer time, two or three times in the week, inter- 
course was frequent between Scotland and New- 
town; but the communications between that 

digging out the earth for a new canal from Lough- 
neagh to Dublin, for an inland navigation, a forest, 
as it may be ealled, was dlBcovered under ground: 
a vast number of £RUen trees of ash, oak, alder, &c., 
lying near a mile in length under a covering of earth, 
in some places six, in others eight foot deep, many of 
them of large bulk tumbled down one over another, 
some lying in straight lines, and others in a transverse 
or oblique position. Many discoveries of this kind are 
continually made all over the island ; and there is scarce 
a bog but what alSbrds plenty of timber buried in it, 
cut down, no doubt, by some of the first inhabitants, 
in order to make room for tillage and pasture : but in a 
kn^ course of time they have been covered over by a 
stapiation of waters, which the trees themselves, being 
thus felled and disposed of, might have first occasioned, 
and by the hig^ lands being dissolved with repeated 
raiai, and, together with the earthy particles of rain 
widtsr, lodging upon them. The names of many forests 
this reduced are still preserved ; and they were in the 
eaitf times so numerous as to be a great incumbrance, 
as appears from many instances in the ancient history. 
But since the conquest, in order as well to furnish tim- 
ber for their houses, and convert the land into more 
profits as to deprive the rebels and robbers of their lurk- 
ing boles and places of refuge, the greatest part of the 

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S2 THK CONPlSCrATlON OP tJLstilt, 

tounttj fii\4 Dbtiaghadee were mere fr^nettty 
a& it was bat thitee bours' sail froni Pert- 
patfiek. • 

In the sunofmer indntfes of 1607, Newtown had 
become quite a plaee of resort from Scotland. 
Pebble artived from Stranraer, a tow<i there, 
tbok horses fcit the port of Donaghadee, came to 
see their friends at' Newtown, witli their wares 
and ph)vistt'OttS— <hus ttiliilglitig busioeiBS Whb 
friei^dsh4p-i-3oId th^^ir ^5dttimodities, dined, a»d 
rettrrnfed^inthe evenftig to Scotland. <*8Qfehf' 
siys ttty antboHty, «wa8 their eocowragetiient, 
f^m n ready market; with theii" kind desires to 

wooas have been reduced to ftmblid and pft^tur6 groond, 
o¥ • tum^ hvko bogis. Indeed, thty have been bo ramh 
reduced^ that the inbftbitanta in general not only want 
wood fyr firing, but to carry on the business oX building 
and repairing houses.** — Warner's History of Ireland. 
vOl.'i., J). 46. 

The destruction 6f the timber of Ivelaad^eitt on Tory 
tapidly. Ori^naUy, uti w^ have etsn, the Maud wih« 
ealliid *' woudy,'* thti people n oar Cork were called Vadk^ 
Bigflilyiug dwtlltrs in ii woody country, and thii nume 
bf You^hiil \^ gaid to have » giniilar meftn;ng» Speiistir 
arid others ciommt^inorate Irehmd aa abounding m :&!iade 
UTid fbliage; and Stanihurst (qiiot(^ by Moore, vol. t,» 
p. 13) siiyg the nitivE^s i^'cre acc^iAcd of savagtlj living 
in the dep:h.4 of thrik miglitj^ forests ; yet, in h^$s Thflu 
a century after Spenser wrote, and when the Munstet 
jitid UUter iv^iirs and pbntfttions had ejected a great 
**ciG{iring/' we And Pitisrs, in his DesctiptlDn of Meath, 
^om pi [lining of tliK urnnt of forest tre«* '* wherewith 
Iteknd wiis imdctuly well stored. "^ — Set? Moore, uhisirp. 
Cambrensij*, in hi a liints eonipbineth that Ireland ha*i 
^eit-eas of iraotU a,nil v^-ry little chumpaign country, hUt 
iiO\v the Enfjlish Pale ik t'Ki naktrt; tutf aaid iiejicoles 



IfAn CON BlSOAi:iOii. OtF; IILSTBIS^ $3 

Sjfteaiid supfdy their friends a»d kinged ; vihloh 
ffkadlj commerce quite too^ r|i,way- tiiie ;^v^^ 
report of wolves* and woodkerns which "e^vy^^ 
of planters' industry" bed raise^^ to disturb 
ttm bee&* nept of thrivi&g Scotchmen^, . r. i 

The Plant^s w^re-aoti've and sdrriag; moA if 
vte^^iife credit to their historian^ they had. ari 
es^M^le of 'industry. u» their Lord and Xady, they 
l$0b b^g^a«tive and ii^tent, oo tbeir wor^t, ts^ 
hnAs niter pairing to jaaa^ke n^gtafor their broofl^ 
A4«pipdi«gly„TPfte -/inight,;«ee. atrej^ts^ and t^i^er 
Jlieirt».gf0wiog> ufK hf, the rare pc^ei; of i^uatry, 
aqd bouses apringing)fts it were out of th^ 
ground, ** like Cadmus' colony/* 
,- B«it whilst ttie. grosser sort were wprl^ing for 
the mere matertid necessities of the •new^Planta'r 
1l6n, tbeit pious ' leadei*— *^fof indedd ;^urfb^^ 
fathers were more^ious than ourselves/' as'i>irell 
they might-;— had made preparations for ihe per- 
f<Hrmaniee of' ddviidet worohip^ When ^* the stump 
tuP'ike old^iLsAis^ which appeal's to have been 

, * ** King Eflgar is said to be the first who ntfcempie^to 
zid this kingdom of ^nt^h. dijifigrKcuhly imnfltea^ by c«m- 
mating the punishment for uertJiin crimoti into the ac- 
Cfsptnnj^e ot' a number of wolf a tongues from each cri- 
piiOflU However, &orae centuries after, tiiese UDimciLswere 
li^iuii jnerea^ed t*i mich a dejjree, its to h^come tlie object 
of toy id attention; jiccordingly, Edward the Kirnt issued 
out hie laiiudatt: to onfc Peter Corbet to superintend iind 
A«&i£t in the destruetign o£ them. Tliey are SEud to 
h&ve infested Ireland long aft^ they were extirpated in 
^nirlwid ; how*iver» the oldest, men in that country t^ 
il^niber notluug of tUe?e animalE; and it is probabk 
that there have been notxe there for njore than a oentiir^ 
pa»% Sqotlaud also h totuUy,fivts."^Go/cfsmi;A> jiVt- 
mftied Mature f toI. ii., p. 210. ^ , i, 

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84 THE CONnSCATION OF TJLSTSm. 

the first consideration, was repaired (in the 
spring of 1606), so that there might be shelter 
for that year's summer and harvest, and for Sir 
Hugh and his servants, then his piety made 
some good store of provisions in those fair sea- 
sons towards roofing and fitUng the ohaiioel of 
the church for the worship of God; but his 
virtue was not without good calculation, for 
'therein he needed not withdraw his own 
planters from working for themseheSy because 
there were Irish Gibeonets and Garrons enough 
in his woods (alas I these poor despairing Irishes !) 
to hew and draw timber for the sanctuary," 
Before winter it was decently serviceable ; and 
Sir Hugh had brought a supply of three chap- 
lains over with him. In summer, 1608, some 
of the walls of an old priory were roofed in for 
the lady and children and servants (which were 
many) to live in. It was a strange hospitality 
which the houses of an old faith thus tendered 
to the Planters of a new race and a new reli- 
gion. 

Lady Montgomery, who would seem to have 
well deserved the eulogium bestowed up<m the 
wife of Conn O'Neill, of being " a sharp, nimble 
woman," caused watermills to be built in all the 
parishes of her husband's principality, of which 
she stood in need in working about her gardens, 
c^riages, &c. The arrival of **a commoditjr" 
Off Scotch millers freed the colonists from the 
necessity of grinding their com with the M and 
simple but troublesome machinery of the qaairn 
stones, an inconvenience they were forced to 
undergo at their first coming. 

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THR COKFI8CATIOK OF ULSTKH. i*6 

Her ladyship had farms at Grey Abbey and 
at Comber, . as well as ^t Newtown, both to sup- 
ply her own domestic circle and the new impor- 
tations of Montgomerys who were daily coming 
over; nor did she find any difficulty in getting 
a supply of labourers. For,— and as a means 
of testing the station and condition of some of 
diQse who first planted English civility and the 
Gospel among qs, the fact is WQj*th observation — 
ii»iiy came ovec who had not the means to plant 
Bud take leases of land, byt whose available 
capital was " a cow or two, or a few sheep, for 
whidi she gave th^m grass and so much grain 
per annum, and a house and garden plot to live 

t on, and some land for flax and potatoes, as tltey 
figre€$d on, for doing tlieir work, and there be at 
tkig day (1698—1704) many such poor labourers 
amongst us ; and this was but a part of her goot} 

' management, for she set up and epcouraged 
linen and woollen manufactory."* 

Nothing can surpass the agreeable picture 
given of the settlement in the Ardes, Every 
body^— a thing which is equally rare in old and 
new settlements*— minded his own business at the 
plough and the spade, and building, and the 

. nursing up orchards, and the planting of fruit 
trees, and the making of ditches. The old wives 
spun, whilst the garrulous murmur of their 
tales mingled with the industrious noises of the 
spinning wheel ; young girls plied their nimble 
fingers and nimbler tongues, and every one was 
inanoeently b*i»y. ** Now the Golden peaceable 

* Montgom. MSS. p. 53, 

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$€ THE COKFISCATIOK OF ULSTER* 

nge was renewed: no strife, contention, querulous 
lawyers, or Scottish or Iiish feuds, between 
clans and families, and simames, disturbing the 
tranquillity of those times ; and the towns and 
temples were erected, with other great works 
done (even in troublesome years.)" 

This was the mere planting of the seed. The 
seed time passed, and the harvest came. Cad- 
mus had well planted his teeth, for we are told 
that in a few years from the beginning of the 
Plantation, Lord Montgomery brought before the 
Muster-Master of the King, one thousand fighting 
men ; and by letters patent Newtown was created 
a Corporation, whereof the Lord Hugh is named 
Provost, and the Right Worshipful the Burgesses 
are also named. And so was consummated the 
Plantation in the Ardes of Down ;* and so was 
the first stone laid of the greatness of the Mont- 
gomerys and the Hamiltons in the land of the 
O'Neills ! 

• ** This corporation hath divers priviledges, the most 
remarkable are that CTciy Parliament they send two 
Burgesses to serve therein ; the other is that it can hold a 
Court every second Friday for debt, trespass, and damage, 
not exceeding three score six shillings and eight pence, 
sterling. The town hath in it an excellent piece of 
ft^estone work of eight squares, called the cross, with a 
door behind ; within are stairs mounting to the towers, 
over which is a high stone pillar, and proclamations are 
made thereon; on the floor whereof at each square is an 
antique spout which vented claret. King Charles the 2d 
being proclaimed our King of Great Britain, France, 
and Ireland, Ac. Ao. Do. 1649." 



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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 87 



CHAPTER IV. 

Plans for the great Plantation — Bacon's plan — ^Projects 
and observations upon them. 

We have dwelt at length on the Plantation in 
the Ardes of Down ; for though not necessarily 
belonging to our immediate subject it possesses 
many features of engaging interest and belonging 
equally to that more extensive settlement which 
planted in the great domains of O'Neill and 
O'Donnell, and Mac Guire, and O'Dogherty, 
and O'Reilly, a new people, a new Faith, new 
habits, laws, institutions, traditions, a new history, 
and a new and more potent Aristocracy. 

There was no character which James coveted 
more than that of planter and legislator of coun- 
tries, and no passion of his was greater than that 
which he had for introducing " civility," and the 
Cnglish laws and customs into Ireland. Nothing 
could have been more fortunate for this object 
than the rebellions and sham rebellions which 
disturbed the earlier part of his reign. The 
materials for experamentalizing were presented 
to his hands abundantly in the six northern coun- 
ties of Ulster — Donegal, Tyrone, Derry, Ferma- 
nagh, Cavan, and Armagh — "a tract of country," 
we are told by Leland, *' covered with woods, 
where robbers and rebels found a secure shelter, 
desolated by war and famine, and 4^JI!S4 *® ^ 

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88 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

waste without the deliberate and vigorous inter- 
position of the English government." 

James determined to dispose of these lands to 
his British and Scotch subjects, to the exclusion 
of the original Irish owners. For the absence 
of integrity and national honour in such a 
proceeding, there was, in the opinion of the King 
and his courtiers, an ample compensation in the 
purposes of peace and cultivation to which he in- 
tended to apply the vast bulk of forfeited property, 
which had come to his hands. That his opinions 
and determination on this subject were of long 
standing, we may assume from the fact that Lord 
Bacon's first suggestions for the planting of Ire- 
land bear date long before the flight of the Earls 
of Tyro wen and Tyrconnell. Indeed it is impos- 
sible to resist the belief that from the beginning 
of this reign, Cecil and the other courtiers, 
surrounded by hungry vultures, having hordes 
of useless retainers, with a deficient public 
revenue, and anxious, it may be admitted, to 
establish permanent peace in Ireland where the 
most enormous expenses had been incurred in a 
long continuance of war, had planned the sham 
plot, the flight, and the forfeiture, at once to get 
rid of the enemies of England, to provide for their 
hungry applicants, and to garrison Ireland for 
the English crown. 

In Bacon's voluminous correspondence, we 
flnd a letter addressed to Mr. Secretary Cecil, 
after the defeat of the Spanish forces in Ireland. 
Bacon and Cecil! — it is a strange neighbouring 
of names in the management of Irish aflairs I 
This letter must have been written just as the 

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THE CONFISCATION OP ULSTER. 89 

great war of Hugh O* Neill was closing and the 
Spaniards, under the imbecile Don Juan b*Aguila, 
had been defeated in the South of Ireland.* This 
letter had been despatched, O'Neill had capitulated, 
had been received into favour, had visited Lon- 
don, and thence returned loaded with the smiles of 
a Court and the coronet of an Earl ; yet it seems as 
if this production were but the indication of a fore- 
gone conclusion, the programme of a play that was 
to be played out, and as if the reconciliation with 
O'Neill were not intended to be of long duration. 
Bacon's plan contained elements which had they 
been admitted into the Plantation it would have 
worked if not more absolute good, at least with 
less injustice to the natives of Ireland. He re- 
commended toleration in religious matters. He 
argued philosophically that two things should 
precede compulsion, one was instruction and the 
other operation, *< neither of which they yet had." 
Besides, he says, " until they be more like rea- 
sonable men than they yet are, their society were 
rather scandalous to the true religion than 
otherwise — as pearls cast before swine ; for, till 
they be cleansed from their blood, incontinency, 
and theft which are now not the lapses of particular 

• **Life of Hugh O'Neill," p. 213. a.d. 1603. Bacon 
says of this southern campaign : *' What was the CTent ? 
This in a few words : that after the Irish and Spanish 
forces hail come on, and showed themselves in some bra- 
very, they were content to give the English the honour 
as to charge them first : and when it came to the charge 
there appeared no other difference between the valour 
of the Irish rebels and Spaniards, but that the one ran 
away before they were charged, and the other straight 
after." — Considerations of a War with Spji&)OQ\c 



90 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

persons but the very law of the nation, they are 
incompatible with religion reformed. For po- 
licy, there is no doubt but to wrestle with them 
now is directly opposite to their reclaiming."* 
Whilst he recommends the fair distribution of 
justice amongst the people, he argues that a tem- 
porary application of martial law is politic and 
necessary. But his strangest suggestion, though 
not the least wise for his purposes, is ** to translate 
large families from Ireland into England, and 
give them recompence and satisfaction here for 
their possessions there, as the King of Spain did 
by divers families of Portugal." Further, he re- 
commends two things which he considers very 
important ; namely, that choice be made of such 
persons for the government of towns and places, 
and such undertakers be procured as be men gra- 
cious and well beloved, and likely to be well 
followed. And that it be not left to the pleasure 
of the undertakers and adventurers, where and 
how to build and plant, but that they do it 
according to a precept or formulary. For, firsts 
the places both maritime and inland which are 
fittest for colonies or garrisons, as well for doubt 
of the foreigner, as for keeping the country in 
bridle, will be found, surveyed, and resolved on ; 
and then that the patentees be tied to build in 
those places only, and to fortify as shall be 
thought convenient. And lastly, " it folio weth 
of course in countries of new populations to in- 
vite and provoke inhabitants by ample liberties 
and charters." 

•Bacon's letters /^temp. Eliz. ) J|rH^Qg|^ 



THB COJCFISCATION OF ULSTER. 91 

It cannot be denied that, putting out of con*- 
fideration the original wrong of this great trans- 
action, Lord Bacon's early suggestions — made in 
anticipation of the spoliation that afterwards 
occurred — contained much forethought and wis- 
dom, and indicate a very different mode of pro- 
cedure from that of Cecil and Chichester. 

Four years after this letter had been written 
the opportunity occurred which was so much 
coveted by the king, and for which his courtiers 
and dependants had struggled so long. O'Neill 
and O'Donnell were gone, never to return — 
O'Dogherty was subdued, and the six great coun- 
ties of the North lay at the mercy of James. 
Bacon now addressed his master in a very able 
and elaborate essay, which he entitled ** Certain 
considerations touching the Plantation in Ire- 
land.*** He sums up the several advantages in- 
cidental to a properly managed Plantation, and 
in the first place he dwells complacently on the 
prospects opened to his majesty for getting rid of 
the superabundant population of England and 
Scotland, and for providing ample ** sustentation 

* Bacon excuses himself thus, though no apology ap- 
pears to have been necessary, for giving his opinions at 
large to the King : • * And I was the rather invited this to 
do by the remembrance, that when Lord Chief Justice 
Fopham served in the place wherein I now serve, and 
afterwards in the attorney's place, he laboured greatly 
in the last project touching the Plantation of Munsterr 
which, nevertheless, as it seemeth, hath given more light 
by the errors thereof what to avoid, than by the direc- 
tion of the same what to follow." — Lord Bacon* s Works, 
vol. 1, p. 471. Bohn, 1843. 

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D2 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTEft. 

for numerous families, whose discharge also out 
of these countries may prevent the seeds of fu- 
ture perturbations. It is as if a man were trou- 
bled for the avoidance of water from the place 
where he hath built his house, and afterwards 
should advise with himself to cast those waters, 
and to turn them into fair pools or streams for 
pleasure, provision, or use. So shall your ma- 
jesty in this work have a double commodity in 
the avoidance of people here, and in making use 
of them there." 

Other advantages he sets forth of defence 
against the foreign enemy, and of a great in- 
crease of strength and profit to the Crown by 
working " on the unpolished part thereof." And 
he concludes the summary of benefits by a glow* 
ing picture of the prize proposed to British and 
Scotch speculation. " For this island being an- 
other Britain, as Britain was said to be another 
world, is endowed with so many douries of Na- 
ture, considering the fruitfulness of the soil, the 
ports, the rivers, the fishings, the quarries, the 
woods, and other materials ; and especially the 
race and generation of men, valiant, hard, and 
active, as it is not easy, no, not upon a continent, 
to find such confluence of commodities, if the 
hand of man did but join the hand of Nature." 

The reader may, with great advantage, com- 
pare the suggestions of Bacon for carrying out 
this Plantation with the projects proposed by the 
council to the king, and the " Orders and Condi- 
tions" which James published. 

Three motives, Bacon says, induce men to uw- 

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THE CONFfSCATlON OF ULSTER. 93 

dertake new settlements : pleasure, honour, and 
profit.* Without dwelling much on the two 
first, he proposes to make the new undertaking 
attractive to the planters by three means: 1st. 
To set the land at easy rates to their new owners. 
2dly. To give them a perfect liberty of export 
of all commodities growing upon the planted 
country — liberty to import, custom free, all things 
appertaining to the necessary uses — liberty to 
take timber or other materials in the King's 
woods, and the like. 3dly. To exonerate the 
planters from bearing the whole mass of charge 
out of their private purses. 

He recommends a Commission of Plantation, 
and that the Commissioners should for certain 
times reside and abide in some habitable town of 
Ireland, as well to decide all controversies, as to 
form centres round which tradesmen and a con- 
course of people might flock, as it will be some 
help and commodity to the undertakers for things 
they shall stand in need of. And he adds a sug- 
gestion which proves him to have well understood 
the pnnciples of centralization, which are so 



• With regard to the pleasures of an Irish residence, 
he pays: *'In this region or tract of soil there are no 
warm winters, nor orange trees, nor strange beasts, nor 
birds, or other points of curiosity or pleasure, as there 
are in the Indies, or the like ; so as there can be found 
no foundation made upon matter of pleasure, otherwise 
than the very general desire of novelty and experiment 
u\ some stirring natures may work somewhat." Spenser 
had more flattering opinions of Ireland — Faerie Queene, 
passim. And this sentence contracts btranijely witli that 
quoted in the text,. 

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94 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

much interwoven with the modem system of colo- 
nization :* 

** The next is, that your Majesty would make a cor- 
reffpondency between the commission there, and a Coun- 
cil of Plantation here : wherein I warrant myself by the 
precedent of the like council of plantation for Virginia ; 
an enterprise, in my opinion, differing as much from 
this, as Amadis de Qaul differs from Cesar's Commen- 
taries. But when I speak of a council of plantation, I 
mean some persons chosen by way of reference, upon 
whom the labour may rest, to prepare and report things 
to the council of estate here, that concern that business. 
For although your Majesty have a grave and sufficient 
council in Ireland: from whom, and upon whom, tiie 
commissioners are to haye assistance and dependence ; 
yet that supplies not the purpose whereof I speak. For, 
considering, that upon the advertisements, as well of the 
commissioners as of the council of Ireland itseU*, there 
will be many occasions to crave directions from your 
Majesty and your privy council here, which are busied 
with a world of affairs ; it cannot but give greater ex. 
pedition, and some better i)erfection unto such directions 
and resolutions, if the matters may be considered of 
aforehand, by such as may have a continual care of the 
cause. And it will be likewise a comfort and satisfaction 
to some principal undertakers, if they may be admitted of 
that council" 

The same principle of centralization he applies 
to the building of dwellings on the intended 
plantation. His opinion was in favour of towns 
and not of isolated residences, and he gives many 
sufficient reasons for it, which, however, had lit- 
tle effect in influencing the undertakers. 

** My reasons," he says, ** are. First, when men come 
into a country vast, and void of all things necessary for 

* See Introductory Essay to his works, p. xiz. 

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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTJER. 96 

the use of man's life, if they set up together in a pUice, 
one of them will the better supply the wants w the 
other : workfolks of all sorts wiU be the more conti- 
nually on WQfrk without loss of time ; when, if work fail 
in one plaoe, they may have it fiist by; the ways will be 
made more passable for carriages to these seats or towns, 
than they can be to a number of dispersed solitary 
places ; and infinite other helps and easements, scarcely 
to be^^comprehended in cogitation, will ensue in vicinity 
and sooiety of people ; whereas if they build scattered, 
as is projected, every man must have a cornucopia in 
himself for all things he must use ; which cannot but 
breed much difficulty, and no less waste. 

** Secondly, it will draw out of the inhabited country 
of Ireland provisions and victuals, and many necessaries ; 
because they shall be sure of utterance : whereas in the 
dispersed habitations, every man must reckon only upon 
that that he brings with him, as they do in provisions of 
ships. 

** Thirdly, the charge of bawnes, as they call them, 
to be made about every castle or house, may be spared, 
when the inhabitants shall be congregated only into 
towns. 

** And lastly, it will be a means to secure the country 
agiunst future perils, in case of any revolt and defec- 
tion : for by a slight fortification of no great charge, the 
danger of any attempts of Kernes and Sword-men may be 
prevented : the omission of which point in the last Plan- 
tation of Munster, made the work of years to be but the 
spoil of days. And if any man think it will draw peo- 
ple too &r off from the grounds they are to labour, it is 
to be understood, that tihe number of the towns be in- 
creased accordingly ; and likewise, the situation of them 
be as in the centre, in respect of the portions assigned 
to them : for in the champaign countries of England, 
where the habitation useth to be in towns, and not dis- 
persed, it is no new thing to go two miles off to plough 
part of their grounds ; and two miles compass will take 
up a good deal of country." 

I have recapitulated the leading opinions of 
Lord Bacon on the subject of the ^* 

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96 THE CONFISCATION OP UL^TIfiA. 

because they are the opinions of a great go- 
verning mind upon a subject of vast historical 
importance — of a statesman to whom is usually 
awarded the merit of designing this enormous 
confiscation ;* but principally that they may be 
contrasted with the scheme of Plantation which 
w^as subsequently carried into effect. 

It is plain that the mind of England was bent 
on the new conquest, by colonization, of the 
whole of Ireland. The attempts which had been 
partially made served only to whet the appetite of 
acquisition, and from the grander speculations of 
Bacon down to those of the meanest undertaker 
in Scotland, the several passions of men were 
turned with different ends to the peopling of this 
country ; and the rapidity with which the King 
proceeded in this his cherished scheme, corres- 
ponded with the anxious avidity of his hungry 
favourites, and the wants of that tribe of mendi- 
cant courtiers who infested his mean and pom- 
pous court. 

The Earls had not long fled until, as we have 
seen, commissions were sent to the North, of 
judges to try and hang the traitors, and of others 
to investigate the extent and amount of for- 



* He shares this merit with Cecil, but the latter per- 
formed the vulgar part of the affair. He got up the 
plot with a view to the confiscation ; but Bacon laid a 
comprehensive, and, contrasted with the execution, a 
humane plan of colonization. The basis cf both was 
acquisition, but there are degrees in robbery as in every 
thing else — See Concise View of the Irish Society i p. 3, 
wliere Robert Cecil obtains tlie whole merit of suggesting 
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TttE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 9f, 

feitures which had accrued to the Crown by the 
providential discovery of the dropped letter* 
Several of those whom Leland, with gross assu- 
rance, calls "conspirators," — whilst in his own 
pages he admits the improbability of the exis- 
tence of any " conspiracy" — were taken, tried, 
and hanged ; and the two Earls and other fugi- 
tives of inferior note were attainted by the usual 
process of outlawry, according to the course of 
the common law, which was so new and unfa- 
miliar in the principalities of Tyrowen and Tyr- 
connell. This hrot haste received a startling 
check from the young chief of Tnishowen ; but, 
after^ some months of vigorous " rebellion," his 
untimely death allowed the King and his under- 
takers to proceed with their long meditated de- 
signs upon the estates of Ulster, and they lost 
but little time and spared no toil in this labour of 
love. 

The six counties which were marked out as 
the prey of the undertakers, ** as a new corner 
of the vineyard'* for the Wingfields, and Caul- 
fields, and Chichesters, and Blayneys^* exceeded 
in length and breadth the large counties of 
Yorkshire and Lancashire. No part of Ireland 
was more rich in natural fertility and cultiva- 
tion, and though the barbarian hand of English, 
rapine had been busy with its teeming fields, it 
yet bore to the " hungry vultures" that awaited 
its partition, the abundant promise of untold 
wealth. To gratify the inordinate desires of his 
S(?rvants, James proceeded with rapidity and judg- 

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• Mitchel's ** Hugh O'Neill," p. 242. ^ 



98 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

ment. No better choice could have been made 
of agents, for the work of plunder, than the King's 
Attorney General, and the Lord Deputy Chiches- 
ter. Sir John Davies was a subtle, pliant lawyer, 
eloquent and learned, without conscience, the pro- 
fessional apologist of robbery. He was a man of 
spirit and courage, and as we shall presently see, 
carried himself boldly in the parliamentary con- 
test, which took place a little later between him 
and Sir John Everard, for the speakership of the 
House of Commons. But in the plans and pro- 
jects, and execution of the Plantation of Ulster, 
he did no more than the lawyer's part ; he vindi- 
cated every act of wrong, and was ready with a 
reason for every iniquity. In the whole range of 
law literature there is not a more wonderful in- 
stance of unprincipled reasoning than that by 
which he reconciles "the conscience of the King" 
to the ejectment of the native Irish from their 
lands. He was a useful counsellor to such a 
sovereign as James. But the true master- 
mind of the confiscation was Sir Arthur Chi- 
chester. 

This Deputy was son of Sir John Chichester of 
Raleigh, in the county of Devon ; his mother was 
a descendant of Bourchier Earl of Bath.* His 
ancestral line was long and noble. But he wafl 
from his earliest days an adventurer. He left 
the University, preferring action to study, and 
bet<»k himself to arms. He served with dis- 
tinction — the distinction of superior courage and 

• One of tliis family got large grants out of the Des- 
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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 99 

superior cmeltj — in the Irish armies of Eliza- 
beth ; and was knighted for his actions in Ire- 
land, " where his services in the reduction of the 
Irish were so manifest, that he was effectuallj 
assistant to plough and break up that barbarous 
nation by conquest, and then to sow it with 
seeds of civility.*'* In 1603, he. was madd^ a 
Privy Counsellor and Governor of Carrickfer- 
gus, and in 1604 he became Lord Deputy of 
Ireland.! 

He was a rigid Puritan, and had signalized 
himself by the bitterness with which he perse- 
cuted the Roman Catholics. His zeal was so 
furious, that even the King and Council were 
compelled at times to moderate it. But it was 
" in sowing the seeds of civilitie," that is to say, 
in plundering the natives of their property, that 
he was most signally efGicient. He was " resolute 



* ** Lodge's Peerage" by Archdall, quoting Fuller; vol. 
1, p. 318. He laid waste the neighbourhood of Canrick- 
fergus with fire and sword (1599), and was for his bril- 
liant services recommended to the congenial spirit of 
Cecil as Uie fittest man to be made sole GovernOT of 
Ulster to carry on **a sharp winter's war against the 
rebels/* 

t His brother, Sir John, was also Governor of Car- 
ridcfergus, but not exactly so profitably for himself. 
"For hearing that James Mac Sorley Mac Donnell was 
growing restive, he marched out against him. Their forces 
engaged, and Sir John was taken prisoner, and his head 
was cut off on a stone near the Glynnes. Next year 
Mac Donnell was taken into favour, and seeing the effigy 
of Sir John in Nicholas's Church in Carrickfergus, 
asked — '* How the De'il he cam to get his head again, for, 
lie w« sure he had ones taken it fifom him 7*!^M*Skim' 
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100 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

in executing his designs, wise in taking kig 
party, master of his own temper, dexterous and 
able to manage the variety of humours he met 
with." And all these qualities were subservient 
to insatiable avarice, for he was, beyond all men 
of the day, greedy of gain and eager for forfei- 
tures. And therefore to him fell the lion's share 
of the Plantation, over whose details and man- 
agement his acute and sagacious. genius presided.* 
This was the man whom James selected as his 
agent ; and it was a good choice. 

The King was well aware of the rock upon 
which the Munster Plantation split, and " he had," 
says Leland, "a just conception of his present 
scheme." He showed this by his choice of Sir 
Arthur Chichester. The advantages of Sir 
Arthur were these: that his Irish experiences 
were great ; he was skilled in all the mysteries of. 
hanging, drawing, and quartering ; he had served 
and butchered in the Irish wars ; there was no 
traitor whom he did not know ; and no Chief 
whose character he had not studied. He under- 
stood the territories to be {Wanted — ^for his eyes 
were long turned with longing to the Peninsula of 
Inishowen, and the broad principalities of O'Neill ; 
he had surveyed the doomed counties, and des- 
cribed particularly the state of each. The sta- 
tistics of the escheated estates were familiar to 
him as his prayers, (though he prayed much) ; 
and he could point out with the accuracy of an en- 
gineer, the fit places for the making of Castles and 

* The list of the rewards of ** faithful Chichester" will 
be given hereafter. They would nearly fill a volume by 
themselves. Poo<Tlr> 

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TitE CONFISCATION OP ULSTER. 101 

Bawns, and other fortified haunts of rohbers ; nor 
could the most accomplished master of the secrets 
of the human character more accurately delineate 
than he did, the failings and passions of the Irish 
Chieftains, the temper of the old natives, and the 
way in which to deal with both.* This founder 
of the family of Donegal was in his way a rare 
man — a Pizarro or a Cortes it might have been, if 
he had had a new world to discover. 

It is to Sir Arthur Chichester then that we 
may attribute the excellent projects of the Plan- 
tation of Ulster, which, improving much on the 
philosophic theories of Bacon, admirably fulfilled, 
we may presume, the more practical designs of 
Cecil and his master. When we reflect upon 
what Chichester did, and what he gained, we 
^ shall have little doubt about the real and intimate 
* motive, which influenced James and his coun- 
sellors in the Plantation of Ulster. But, indeed, 
little doubt appears to be entertained on any side 
in these days on such a transaction ;'|' it stands 
confessed, an act of lawless spoliation without 

* Lieland, vol. 2, p. 430. It is to be regretted, that 
all Chichester's letters and despatches to England are 
not forthcoming. They would have formed admirable 
materials for history. Leiand attributes to Chichester 
the qualifications enumerated above; **but he had one 
disqualification overlooked here by Leiand, which is a 
fatid objection to every one of the above pretensions, 
namely, he was interested as one of the planters himself." 
Liher Munerum publicor um Hibernice, under the head of 
JRes gesta Anglorum in Hihernia, by Mr. Lascelles of 
the Inner Temple, chapter 47, p. 47, an excellent Eng- 
lish history of treland. 

t Hume in a burst of rhapsodical rapture exclaims, 
"Such were the arts by which James introduced hu- 

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102 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

plea or e:tcu86 ; and is now spoken of marel j as a 
warning to Peoples against those divisions which 
make them the prey of the strong hand, and to 
Kings and GovemmeHts against the lust of coia* 
quest, and the iniquity of lawless a^iesnoa* — 
This great crime will not have beea an unmixed 
mischief, if it teadi People «md Kings the evil 
and folly of tbor ways. 

Before the projects of the Privy Council, and 
** the Orders and Conditions" of the King are laid 
before the reader, we may consider for a moment 
the nature of the country and the character of 
the people who were thus to be rudely trampled 
upon. And James himself is the safest witness 
that can be called to testify to the natural wealth 
and fertility of the soil he was about to plant. 
In seeking to persuade the ** incomparable city 
of London" to undertake a Northern Plantation,, 
he presented them with the following " Reasons 
and Motives :" — 

" The Land Commodities which the North of 
Ireland produceth, 
" The country is well watered, generally by 
abundance of springs, brooks and rivers; and 
plenty of fuel, either by means of wood, or, where 
that is wanting, of good and wholesome turf. 

manity and justice, amongst a people who had ever been 
buried in the most profoimd barbarism. Noble cares I 
much superior to the vain and criminal glory of con- 
quests ; but requiring ages of perseverance and attention, 
to perfect what had been so happily begun.'* — Hunters 
History of England, vol. 6, p. 59, Edinburgh Edition of 
1805. The conclusion of this pompous eulogy is rather 
lame. 

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THB CONFISCATION OF ULSTEB. 103 

^* It yieldeth store of sR necessary for man's 
sustenance, in such measure as may not only 
maintain itself, but also furnish the city of Lon- 
don, yearly, with manifold provision, especially 
for their fleets ; namely, with beef, pork, fish, 
rye, bere, peas, and beans, which will also, in 
some years, help the dearth of the city and coun- 
try about, and the storehouses appointed for the 
relief of the poor. 

'* As it is fit for all sorts of husbandry, so lor 
breeding of mares and increase of cattle it doth 
excel, whence may be expected plenty of butter, 
cheese, hides, and tallow. 

" English sheep wiU breed almndantly in Ire- 
land, the sea coast, and the nature of the soil, 
being very wholesome for them ; and, if need 
were, wool might be had cheaply and plentifully 
out of the west parts of Scotland. 

''It is held to be good in many places for 
madder, hops, and woad. 

" It affordeth feDs of all sorts, in great quan- 
tity, red deer, foxes, sheep, lamb, rabbits, mar- 
tins, squirrels, &c. 

♦* Hemp and flax do more naturally grow there 
than elsewhere ; which being well regarded, 
might give great provision for canvass, cable, 
cording, and such like requisite for shipping, be- 
sides thread, lin en cloth , and all stuffs made of 
linen yam, whict is more fine and plentiful there 
than in all the rest of the kingdom. 

*' Materials for building — timber, stone of all 
sorts, limestone, slate, and shingle — are afforded 
in most parts of the country ; and the soil is good 
for brick and tile. 

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104 THE CONFISCATION OP ULSTER. 

"Materials for building of ships, excepting 
tar, are there to be had in great plenty ; and in 
the country adjoining the goodliest and largest 
timber in the woods of Glanconkene and Kille- 
trough that may be, and may compare with any 
in his Majesty's dominions, which may easily be 
brought to the sea by Lough Neagb, and the 
river of the Bann. The fir masts, of all sorts, 
may be had out of Lochabar in Scotland, not far 
distant from the North of Ireland, much more 
easily than from Norway ; other sorts of wood 
do afford many services, for pipe staves, hogshead 
staves, barrel staves, hoop staves, clap-board 
staves, wainscot, soap and dyeing ashes, glass 
and iron work, for iron and copper ore are Uiere 
plentifully had. 

" The country is very plentiful for honey and 
wax. 

" The Sea and River Commodities, 
" First. The harbour of the river of Derry is 
exceeding good ; and the road of Portrush and 
Lough Swilly, not far distant from the Derry, 
tolerable. 

" The sea fishing of that coast very plentiful 
of all manner of usual sea fish, especially herrings 
and eels ; there being yearly, after Michaelmas, 
for taking of herrings, above seven or eight score 
sail of his Majesty's subjects and strangers for 
lading, besides an infinite number of boats for 
fishing and killing. 

" Great and profitable fishing are in the next 
adjacent isles of Scotland, where many Hol- 
landers do fish all the summer season ; and do 

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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 105 

plentifully vend their fish in Spain, and within 
the Straits. 

" Much train or fish oil, of seal, herrings, &c., 
may be made upon that coast. 

" As the sea yieldeth very great plenty and 
variety of the sea fish, so doth the coast afford 
abundance of all manner of sea fowl, and the 
rivers greater store of fresh fish than any of the 
rivers in England. 

" There be also some store of good pearls upon 
this coast ; especially within the river of Lough 
Foyle. 

" The coaits be ready for traffic with England 
and Scotland, and for supply of provision from 
or to them ; and do lie open and convenient for 
Spain and the Straits, and fittest and nearest for 
Newfoundland." * 

It is not surprising that, as we shall find pre- 
sently, such excellent reasons and motives had 
weight with the mercers, drapers, goldsmiths, 
and painter-stainers of the good city of London. 

This country so blest by nature in her most 
bountiful mood, was possessed by a brave, war- 
like, and religious people.f They were " frank, 
amorous, ireful, sufferable of paines infinite, very 
glorious, excellent horsemen, delighted with wars, 
great alms-givers, passing in hospitalitie." J Other 

• ** Concise View of the Irish Society," page 6. 
"f See ** Campion's Historic,'* cap. 3, for a learned dis- 
■ qnisition on the soil and climate of Ireland ; and Spen- 
ser's "View of Ireland," p. 28. 

J Campion's "Historic of Ireland," A.D. 1571. He 

Mys, ** the lewder sort both clerks and laymen are sen- 

• soai and over loose in living, but being virtuouslie hred 

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lOG THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

testimonies are at hand to much the same effect. 
" The Irish were a people peaceable, harmlesai 
and affable to strangers, and to all pious and 
good, whilst they retained the religion of their 
forefathers."* These are the qualities generally 
attributed to the old natives of Ireland, and 
which, perhaps, were in none more marked than 
in the clans of O'Neill and CyDonnell. Brave,t 
gay, adventurous, hospitable, religious, the Irish 
possessed those elements of popular character, 
which when allowed a fair development, conduce 
to national power, wealth, and happiness. But 
the circumstances of their coui^ry, tfte arrival of 
the Anglo-Norman adventurers, the long strug- 
gles for political existence, and then for religious 
freedom effectually counteracted the results natu- 
rally to be expected from the happy dispositiona 

up or reformed are such mhrrors of holinesse and aus- 
teritie, that other nations retain but a shadow of devo- 
tion in comparing with them." 

• Thia is quoted in O'Connell's " Memoir," from Bor- 
lase, p. 14 ; I have not found out any such passage in 
Borlase, nor do I imderstand the meaning of the quali- 
fication touching religious fideUty. See also Spenser's 
"State of Ireland," p. 116. 

t " In battle they measured the valour oi the comba- 
tants, by their contempt of artificial assistance; and 
when they beheld the English Imights covered with iron, 
hesitated not to pronounce them void of real courage. 
Their own arms were a short lance, or two javelins, a 
sword called a skean about 15 inches long, and an axe 
of steel called a sparthe. The latter proved a most f<Mr- 
midable weapon. It was wielded with one hand, but 
with such address and impetuosity as generally to pene- 
trate through the best tempered armour. To bear it 
was the destruction of freemen."— XmaarcTs Hist., vol. 

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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 107 

of the people, and the abundant productiveness 
of the soil. 

K we were to judge by the modem historians,* 
the Irish people at the accession of James, nay 
some have said from the earliest periods, were 
buried in the most profound barbarism,f even 
though from the fifth century they had enjoyed 
the light of Christianity, and though the priests 
and missionaries of the country had preserved, 
through medioBval gloom, botl^ faith and learning, 
and propagated them through the world. In the 
tenth century, ere the history of England had well 
begun, and when the greatest part of Europe was 
involved in darkness, a steady light of piety and 
learning continued to shine in this island, and 
shed its rays over the neighbouring countries.^ 

• I say the modem historians, for the old historians. 
Campion, Hanmer, &c., though perhaps more prejudiced 
were less ignorant than the late writers. They tell more 
truth, though they sometimes say bitterer thmgs. On 
all Irish matters Hume is imdoubtedly the most igno?^^ 
rant English historian. tw..***^ 

{Hume's History, vol. 6, p. 59. 
•**The Monks,' saith Mr. O'Connor, 'fixed iheir . 
habitations in deserts, which they cultivated with their 
own hands, and rendered the most delightful spots in 
the kingdom. These deserts became well policed cities ; 
and it is remarkable enough that to the Monks we owe 
60 useful an institution in Ireland, as bringing great 
Bumhers together into one civil community. In these 
cities the Monks set up schools, in which they educated 
the youth not only of the island but the neighhour- 
ing nations.' The testimony of Bede is unquestionahle, 
that about the middle of the seventh century, in the days 
of the venerable prelates Finian and Colman, many 
nobles and other orders of the Anglo-Saxons, retired from 
their own country into Ireland, either for instraction^ 

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108 TH£ CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

In the schools of the continent, the Irish scholars 
continued "to retain their former superiority, 
and amongst the dwarf intellects of that time, 
towfered as giants."* In France and Germany, 
the monasteries of the Irish, the only retirements 
for piety and learning in an ungodly age, were 
flourishing, and the fame of Irish scholars was 
joyfully recognized. Irish monks founded a 
school at Glastonbury in England, where St. 

or for an opportunity of living in monasteries of stricter 
discipline : and that the Scots (as he styles the Irish) 
maintained them, taught them, and furnished them with 
books without fee or reward. <A most honourable 
testimony,* saith the elegant Lord Lyttleton, 'not only 
to the learning, but likewise to the hospitality and 
bounty of that nation !' A conflux of foreigners to a 
retired island, at a time when Europe was in ignorance 
and confusion, gave peculiar lustre to this seat of learn- 
ing ; nor is it improbable or surprising, that seven thou- 
sand students studied at Armagh, agreeably to the ac- 
counts of Irish writers, though the seminary of Armagh 
was but one of those niunerous colleges erected in Ireland. 
But the labours of the Irish clergy were not confined to 
their own country. Their missionaries were sent to the 
continent. They converted heathens, they confirmed 
believers, they greeted convents, they established schools 
of learning ; they taught the use of letters to the Saxons 
and Normans, they converted the Picts by the preaching 
of Columb-kill, one of their renowned ecclesiastics : 
Burgundy, Germany, and other countries received their 
instructions : and Europe with gratitude confessed the 
superior knowledge, the piety, the zeal, the purity of 
the Island of Saints. Such are the events on whidi 
Irish writers dwell with an enthusiastic delight."— Xe- 
land* 8 Preliminary Discourse, p. xx. See Lingard, vol. 
2, p. 243. Miiner's Enquiry into Vulgar Errors, p. 9 ; 
King's Church History of Ireland, 2d edit. p. 139. 

• See the excellently written chapter in Moore's ffis* 
tory, vol. 2. p. 130. 

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THB CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 109 

Dtinstan imbibed under their teaching " the very 
marrow of scriptural learning."* There that 
distinguished ornament of the English Church 
was learnedly accomplished, according to the ac- 
quisitions of the time, in astronomy, arithmetic, 
and geometry ; and there too he cultivated that 
sweet taste for music, in which he indulged 
through all his life.f 

And so did piety and learning continue to 
flourish in Ireland, until by the constant inter- 
course, both peaceable and warlike, with the Danes, 
and by their employment as mercenaries of those 
barbarians in local feudsj the Irish had become 
familiar with rapine and all turbulent crimes, and 
a national degeneracy had been thereby produced, 
which continued increasing up to the time of the 
English invasion. Then it may, without dis-' 
paragement to our country, be admitted that the 
Irish were matched against a people possessing 
at that time superior civilization, greater refine- 
ment, and a more compact and better system of 
government. A nation governed by innumerable 
Princes and Chiefs, was to meet in battle and to 
struggle with in policy, a country having but one 
centre of power, one head, one recognized source 
of government. It is no shame that with such 
unequal odds they were worsted in the long con- 

♦ Moore's Hist. vol. 2, p. 133 ; William of Mahnsbury, 
Idjfe of St. Dunstan. 

t Moore says, on the authority of WilUam of Malms- 
bury, that it was the firequent habit of this great man 
when fatigued with business, and in his hours of rest, 
quando h. Uteris vacaret, to fly for refreshment to the 
soothing sounds of his* harp. Vol. 2, p. 134. 

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1 10 THE CONFISCATION OF l/LSTER. 

test of ngesi, and it is a matter of national pride 
that so noble and unceasing a resistance cotiM 
have been made, with such discordant materials. 
But much as Ireland had degenerated since 
the English invasion, she still enjoyed at the 
accession of James a great degree of civilization, 
when compared with other countries at the same 
period. Under the rule of her native chieftains, 
religion had been protected, and the country was 
covered with the noblest architectural monuments 
of princely piety, of many of which, subsequently, 
she was stripped by the sacrilegious fury of the 
English.* Laws had been propounded with 
solemn sanctions, laws repugnant to later notiims 
and to the refinement of modem ages, but suited 
to the wants, the genius, and the feelings of the 
people. Amongst the chieftains had been, and 
still were men of high accomplishment, courtesy 
and valour. The Scotic chronicle <rf Fordrni 
supplies us with a letter written in the reign of 
Edward III., by O'Neill, King of Ulster, and, as 
he proudly says, " rightful heir to the monarchy 
of all Ireland," and addressed to the Pope John 
XX II., and a more impressive and eloquent 
document will scarcely be found in the pages of 
history, indicating a degree of high and refined 
feeling, that could not be surpassed, if it could be 
equalled, in the Court of Edward. It is a history 
of English rule in Ireland from the beginning, 
told with grave and earnest simplicity, but in 
language the most eloquent and graceful. There 

* Letter of Donald O'Neill to Pope John XXII. ; Se« 

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THE COHFISCATXON OF ULSTER. Ill 

vd little eyidence in it of that perennial barbarism, 
which Home attributes to the chiefs and people 
of ancient Ireland.* 

The deterioration which took place has been 
attributed to many causes; to the Danish inva- 
sions,! to the Brehon laws( — ^yet in days of ac- 
knowledged splendour and civilization, these 
Brehon laws formed the national code — ^but how- 
ever that degeneracy was produced, it was signally 
accelerated by the arrival of the Anglo Normans. 
They came like "ravening wolves and more 
cunning than foxes ;"§ they drove the inhabitants 
irom their houses and their lands, " to seek shelter 
like wild beasts in the woods, marshes, and caves ; 
they sought out the miserable natives even in 
those dreary abodes ;"|| they seized on the noble 
endowments of the church, and destroyed the 
buildings devoted to piety and education. O'Neill 
pathetically laments that by the intercourse of 
the Irish with the English, his countrymen had 
lost the fine features of the national character, 
*' for, instead of being like our ancestors, simple 
and candid, we have become as artful and design- 
ing as themselves.'' 

Moryson in writing the time of Elizabeth says, 
that an Irish chieftain sat round the fire with his 
family in a state of nakedness. But not to dwell 
upon the requisitions of a climate not tropical, 
this will appear a mere gratuitous misrepresenta- 
tion, when we consider that sumptuary laws to 
prevent extravagance in dress were very frequent 

• This admirable state paper is given in the Appendix 
-No. 4, and it is well worthy of careful perusal. 

t Moore, vol. 2, p. 143. J Hume, vol. 6, p. 59. 

§Milner'8" Enquiry;" O'NeiU^s^^Lettgr^^g^^ 1 Ibid. 



112 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

from an early period in Ireland, and that even 
English writers have minutely described the 
gorgeous garments of the chiefs and clansmen— 
the ornamented vest, the trowse, the flowing 
mantle, the vast sleeves of finest linen dyed in 
safiron— and that the ornaments of the women were 
of gold, and are duly recorded in bardic rhyme and 
soberer annals. A people so well supplied with, 
and so fond of using a costly wardrobe, would 
scarcely be reduced to a barbarous n^edness 
even in the recesses of their dwellings.* 

It must be confessed, however, that the resi- 
dences of the Irish, contrasting strangely with 
the splendour of their ecclesiastical architecture, 
were in most instances mean and temporary, 
and suited only for a loose pastoral people. 
They were slight, and composed of hurdles.| 

• ODonnell, who submitted in 1542, was dressed in the 
following fashion : " For I think him fumisht of other 
apparrail better than any Irishman, for at such time as 
he mette with me he was in a coat of crimoisin yelvett 
with aiglettes of gold, twenty or thirty pair, over that a 
great doble cloke of right crimoisin satin, garded with 
black velvet, a bonnet with a feather set full of aiglettes 
of gold, that methought it strange to see him in so honor- 
able an apparrail, and all the rest of his nacion that I have 
seeiras yet, so vUe." — State Papers in the time of Henry 
VIII. Lord Deputy St. Legers Letter to Henry. It is 
not easy to believe that he would drop these costly gar- 
ments, to sit amongst his family in nature's own material. 

t Dr. Lingard says, that at the time of the invasion 
*• the seaports, inhabited chiefly by the descendants of 
Ostmen, were places of some trade. Dublin is styled 
the rival of London, and the wines of Languedoc were 
imported in exchange for hides. But the majority of the 
natives shunned the towns, and lived in huts in the 
country. They preferred pasturage to agriculture. 
Restraint and labour were deemed by them the worst of 
«}vils; liberty and indolence the most desirable of 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 113 

But tbis is not to be taken to support tbe cbarges 
of barbarism made against the nation, which are 
completely belied by the course of education in 
the management of cattle, in husbandry, in 
navigation, and in letters, which were adminis- 
tered to their youth;* the early commercial deal- 
ings with foreign nations,f and the long posses- 
sion of letters. But the social habits in almost 
every country of Europe were of a low nature, 
and their standard of social comfort was mean. 
Great contrasts — ^noble castles, splendid edifices 

bleswngs. The children owed little to the care of their 
parents, but, shaped by the band of Nature, they ac- 
quired as they grew up elegant fo^^, which, ended by 
their lofty stature and florid complexion, excited tho 
admiration of the invaders. Their clothing was scanty, 
fashioned after a manner which to the eye of Giraldus 
appeared barbarous, and spim from the wool of their 
sheep, sometimes dyed, but generally in its natural 
state." — History of England, vol. ii., p. 249. This 
must be taken with many allowances. The historian 
afterwards says, "They constructed their houses of 
timber and wickerwork, with an ingenuity which extorted 
the admiration of the English. Their churches were 
generally built of the same materials ; and wlien Arch- 
bishop Malachy began to erect one of stone, the very 
attempt excited an insurrection of the people, who re- 
proached him with abandoning the customs of his coun- 
try, and introducing those of Gaul." In Mr. Petrie's 
learned and elegant essay, he clearly proves that the 
use of stone and cement in churches, and occasionally 
in houses, was nearly cotemporary with the introduction 
«f Christianity ; his clear and forcible reasoning will 
convince the most incredulous. — See The Ecclesiastical 
Architecture of Ireland, comprising an ** Essay on the 
Origin and Uses of Round Towers of Ireland," vol, i., 
2nded., p. 127, et seq. 

• Leland's Preliminary Disconrse, p. zxxviii. 

t Stuait'b Armagh, 145; Lingard, ubi sup. :>gle 
G 3 



114 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTEB. 

of piety, looking down upon mean structures of 
hurdles— were not unusual in England at the 
time of the first Anglo-Norman monarch s. 

Hume sums up the character of the Anglo- 
Saxon race — and doubtless they were at the 
time of Henry II. not much ameliorated by the 
Norman invasion — in this manner: — "They 
were in general a rude, uncultivated people, 
ignorant of letters, unskilled in the mechanic 
arts, untamed to submission under law and go- 
vernment, addicted to intemperance, riot, and 
disorder. Their best quality was their military 
courage, which yet was not supported by 'disci- 
pline or conduct. , Their want of fidelity to the 
prince, or to any trust reposed in them, appears 
strongly in the history of their later period. 
Even the Norman historians, notwithstanding 
the low state of the arts in their own country/, 
speak of them as barbarians when they speak of 
the invasion made upon them by the Duke of 
Normandy. The conquest put the people in 
the way of receiving slowly from abroad the 
rudiments of science and cultivation, and of 
correcting their rough and licentious manners."* 
The Normans brought with them their habits 
and their tastes, and some refinement, which 
was, as Hume says, slowly imparted to the 
Saxons; and the composite nation, when its 

♦ Hume's History, vol. i., chap. 3. The Anglo- 
Saxons had their eric for murder and wounds, their 
gavelkind, and a practice which still obtains, of paying 
the husband the value of the wife in cases of adultery .-,- 
lb. Dr. Lingard even more graphically describes them, 

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THE CONFISCATION OP UL8TBE. 115 

Hdventurers first invaded the shores of Ireland, 
had achieved a certain degree of civilization. 
Settled there, however, they made no exertion 
to extend this to the natives ; they acted merely 
as needy adventurers, seeking to make easy 
fortunes, and reckless of the ruin they wrought 
in the pursuit of wealth and power. 

In every other recorded case, the disasters of 
conquest have been followed by social ameliora- 
tion to the conquered people.* But the Anglo- 
Norman invasion was an unrelieved and un- 
atoned-for calamity to the Irish people ; the 
conquest up to the reign of James never having 
been completed, the policy of division, and the 
practices of petty and incessant warfare, were 
adopted from the first. Whatever superior civi- 
lization was enjoyed by the invader was never 
imparted to the invaded people ; he gave nothing 
but his vices to his new country. Entrenched 
within the stunted boundaries of the Pale, his 
only security was in the weakness of the 
♦* enemy;** and this was effectually secured by 
the divisions which the institutions of Ta isr»y 
and Chieftainship enabled him to create amongst 
their numerous kings and princes. The social 
amelioration of the Irish naticm was never 

* I do not insist upon the point of honour, that Ire- 
land was never conquered. In Elizabeth's reign she was 
conquered both in war and policy ; and from the begin- 
ning she was practically conquered, for a foreign enemy 
poeseseed her capital city, exacted a revenue, and by 
playing chief against chief, family against family, and- 
sept against sept, reaped some of the most signal advan- 
tages of conquest. , ^ , ,,, ,^ Google 



^ 



116 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

thought of by the English adventurers: the 
country was looked upon merely as so many 
estates, and the people as so many enemies. The 
legislation of the conqueror, the most remark- 
ably cruel, ignorant, and selfish of any of which 
there is a remaining record, was carefully 
framed to obstruct the improvement of the 
nation. Statutes were* passed to prevent inter- 
marriageSy and all those other social connections 
which the humanity 6f Irish customs taught,* 
and which would have gradually led to a perfect 
union of the two nations. Laws were made 
preventing the exercise of any of the arts and 
pursuits of peaccf It was impossible for the 
Irish either to improve their own institutions, 
or, assuming them to be superior, to adopt those 
of the Anglo-Normans4 Their expulsion and 
extermination continued to be for centuries the 
objects of Government, which it sought to 
effect by remorseless cruelty, and by a policy 
even more cruel and relentless. The wars o£ 

* Fosterage, goasipred, &c. 

t Irishmen could not enter Ikiglish towns, nor trade 
with the inhabitants. 

t The late Mathew 0'Ck)nor, m his "ffistory of the 
Irish Catholics," thus irreverently speaks on this ques- 
tion: — " Had Henry flilfilled his engagement (to extend 
the English laws, as he promised at the Coimcil of 
Lismore), no revolution could have been more happy. 
Factious practices and unsocial manners would have 
yielded to the restraints of regular government, and 
Mt Brehon barbarism to civil jurisprudence." — p. 3. 
Agreeing with him in other particulars, I must remark, 
that nothing in the accounts of ancient Ireland warrants 
the imputatioo of unsociality. The reverse is always 
insisted on. " Digitized by Google 



THE CONFISCATIOW OF ULSTER. 1 1 7 

the Pale — ^the Statute of Kilkennj — the Planta- 
tions of Munster and Ulster, were the varying 
indications of that settled policj. The resistance 
of the Irish was noble and continuous, but it 
was without plan, without unity, without any 
principle of concert, and it finally yielded to the 
warlike and politic genius of Lord Mountjoy. 
The submission of Hugh and Roderick remoTed 
the last obstacle to English dominion; and if the 
English did not succeed in the total annihilation 
of the natives, it was not that they had changed 
their policy, but that it had become impossible. 
The Plantation of James was a blow aimed as 
directly at this object as the campaigns of Carew 
or of Grey. 

The surveys being made of the escheated 
counties, inquisitions were held concerning the 
forfeitures. The commissioners authorized by 
virtue of his Majesty's commission, (July and 
August, 1609,) "to enquire of divers things con- 
tained in the said conmiission, and articles of 
instruction thereunto annexed," were — Sir Ar- 
thur Chichester, Lord Deputy; Henry, Lord 
Archbishop of Armagh ; George., Lord Bishop of 
Derry ; Sir Humphry Winch, Chief Justice of 
the Common Pleas ; Sir Thomas Ridgeway, 
Treasurer at "War ; Sir Oliver St. John, Master 
of the Ordinance ; Sir Oliver Lambert, Sir Gar- 
ret Moore, Privy Councillors ; Sir John Davies, 
Attorney-General ; William Parsons, Esq., Sur- 
veyor-General. Twelve men* were duly sworn 

• The following are the names of the jurors who were 
empannelled in Sir Cahir O'Dogherty's case; viz: 
Anthcmy Beynolds, Jessy Smith, Richard Griflftn, Humi 

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]18 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

and found on the several inquisitions that 
Hugh, sometime Earl of Tyrowen, and Roderick, 
sometime Earl of Tyrconnell, and Sir Cahir 
O'Dogherty and others, " did enter into rebellion, 
and at the time of the said entering into rebel- 
lion were seized in their demense as of fee, of, 
&c." and the six counties of Ulster were duly 
enumerated by their several baronies, pu*isheSy 
and townlands, and the number of acres and 
baliboes (or balibetaghs,) polls, quarters, and 
tathes, were set out with becoming accuracy. 

Quick upon the finding of these inquisitions, 
which handed over to the King the ancient and 
princely inheritance of the O'Neills and the 
0*Donnells, and the countries of the 0*Cahans, the 
Maguires, the O'Doghertys and the O'Reillys, 
and a score of other ancient names — or it may be 
even before the formal finding — a project was 
submitted by the Irish Privy Council, to the King 
and Council in England for the division and 
plantation of the escheated lands in six several 
counties of Ulster, namely, Tyrowen, Coleraine,* 
Donegal, Fermanagh, Armagh, and Cavan. 

This project, though in many instances much 
modified and in others not at all followed, contains 
the principles on which the Plantation was con- 
ducted. It will be found in the ensuing Chapter. 

phry Vaile, Richard Bimes, William Colesmore, Anthony 
ifathew, Richard Appleton, Andrew Dykes, Hugh 
Thompson. Edmund O'Hegarty, Manus Mac Rorty, 
Walter JuUan, and Donoghty O'Deny; all good men 
and true. 

* Coleraine the ancient name of the comity which now 
enjoys the composite appellation of Londonderry. 

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THK CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 1 19 



CHAPTER V 

Project of Plantation submitted to the English Privy 
Council — Orders and Conditions to be observed by the 
Undertakers — Commission to inquire into ** the King's 
Title** to the escheated principalities — Orders and in- 
structions to the Commissioners of division. 

"Whebeas," says a state paper of the day,* 
** great scopes and extent of land in the several 
counties of Armagh, Tyrowen, Coleraine, Done- 
gal, Fermanagh, and Cavan, within our province 
of Ulster are escheated and come to our hands 
by the attainder of sundry traitors and rebels, 
and by other just and lawful titles,^ we have 
heretofore caused several inquisitions to be takeil 
and surveys to be made, which being transmitted 
and presented to us, we considered with our 
Privy Council, attending our person, how much 
it would advance the welfare of that kingdom, if 
the said land were planted with colonies of civil 
men and well affected in religion" The civil 
men were to be English, and principally Scotch — 
those well affected in religion were to be Protes- 
tants — the fulfilment of which conditions would 

• ** (Orders and Conditions for CommisslGn for inquiry 
into escheated lands." — Harrises Bibernica, page 132. 

t James set up a whimsical hereditary tiUe to the 
Crown of Ireltiixd. 

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120 THE CONFISCATION OP tJLSTEB. 

l«ad to the extermination of the natire races of 
Ireland. 

For the information of the Privy Council at- 
tending the person of the royal Planter, the Iii^ 
Privy Council submitted their project. 

They commenced by laying down four general 
points, to be observed in all the escheated coun- 
ties, namely : — 

I. That the proportion of land to be distri- 
buted to Undertakers may be of three different 
quantities. The first and least m»y consist of so 
many parcels of land as will make a thousand 
English acres, or thereabouts. The second or 
middle proportion of so mari^ parcels as will 
make fifteen hundred English acres, or there- 
abouts. The third and greatest of so many pai?- 
cels as will make two thousand Unglis^ iacred> or 
thereabouts. 

II. That all lands escheated in trery county 
may be divided into four parts;- whereof two 
partir may Ibe divided into |)P6p6rtions consisting 
df a thousand acres a^piece, a ^rd'pait into pro- 
portions of fifteen hundred acres, and the fourth 
part into proportions pf two thousand acres. 

I JI. That every proportion b6 made a par^h, 
said a. parish church be erecrf^ ihereon ; and iik 
incumbents be endowed with glebes of seyeral 
quantities, viz. : an incumbent of a parish of a 
thousand acres to have sixty acres^ of a parish 
of fifteen hundred acres to have tjinety ' actea, 
and of a parish of two thousand acres to liava 
one hundred and twenty acr^$ and that the whole 
tithes, and the duties of every parish be allotted 
to every incumbent, besides the glebes idToresaid*. 

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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. Ill 

IV. That the Undertakers of these Innds be 
of several sorts. Firsts English and Scottish, who 
• are to plant th^ir proportions with English and 
Scottish tenants. $econd, Servitors in Ireland, 
who may take English or Irish tenants at tlieir 
choice. Third, Natives of those counties, who 
are to he freeholders. 

Following these four general principles of di- 
vision, were special directions for each county, 
based upon their relative statistics. But before 
stating these special directions, it will be well to 
consider those applicalde to the whole scheme of 
the Plantation. 

In each eounij, the authors of this project di- 
vided the lands escheated into two divisions, one 
the portion of the churchy and the other the por- 
'tioH of the Undertakers. The first was composed 
of Termon, Monasterir, and Mensall or Demesne 
kads — rthe second of the escheated temtories of 
the "" late traitors.* 

Before the Sjnod of Kells, held under the 
{vemdenoj of Cardinal Paparo^ in 1152,* tithea 



♦ Moore, vol. 2. p. 189. Mr. King in his ** Church 
History of Ireland," 2nd edition, p. 227> asserts, that 
it was at the synod of Cashel, held in 1172, that tithes 
were ihrst introduced. The synod of KeUs was impor- 
tant, because it was a formal recognition of the supre- 
macy of Bome, which had always been acknowledged by 
the whole church of Ireland, a Legate and Cardinal pre- 
siding and distributing palliums at their own earnest 
request to the four archbishops. But the decrees of the 
Cashel Synod were veiy important. They consisted of 
•even clauses: 1, Against marriage by near relations; 
^ Touching the christening of i^f^ts at the church 
door; 3, Establishing or confirming the -ptkymiBnt 
of tithes of annuals, com, and other produce to 

H 



122 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

were unknown in Ireland. They were intro- 
duced by a law promulgated in this synod, and 
Ireland owes to Ron^ the establishment of an 
impost so distasteful to her ; ** than which human 
wisdom never yet discovered a more equitaUe 
and less burthensome provision for the clei^y."* 
Before th^ introduction of tithes, the clergy were 
mainly supported by donations of cattle and other 
commodities from the people ; bat they enjoyed 
other valuable sources of revenue* The chief of 
which consisted of lands settled on a church by 
its founder, before it was consecrated by tha 
bishop^ to whom then the eodowBiatt belwyi. 
These were called Erenach or Termon lands. 
They en}0yed privileges of sanctuary ; imd were 
stocked in ancient times by the founders with 
septs and races, bound to perform certain services 
for those, to whom they were assigned.! They 
were let to tenants who were compelled to reside, 
and the proceeds were api^ied to maintain hos- 
pitality, to repair the churches, and to, pay the 
rent reserved by the bbhops. , At the time of the 
Plantation, dWms were made by the bishops and 
archbishops in the various counties for Terofion 
lands, to the amount of 43,087 acres ; but on in- 

the church; 4, Church lands to he exempted from lay 
ezactioDS, coyne, livery, cosheriog, &c. ; 5, Exempting 
the clergy from paying eric when they chanced to be 
relative of a murderer. 6, Touching wills. 7, Relating 
to hurials* and uiuforauty of worsh^».**i^^'s Church 
Miftoryy p. 225. 

* This institution almost reconciles Ledwlch to the 
connexion of the Irish Church with Home. 

t Stuart's "Armagh," App. p. 616. The word termoa 
if derived fh>m the Latin terminus. 

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THE COXFISCATIdN QF ULSTER. 123 

qiiisition it was found ihit thtt haH no title to 
tho, lands which were escneatefl, bui only certain 
pensions issuing thereout* ^ 

In lieu, it was proposed in this project that 
these lands should be bestowed dn the arch- 
bishoprics and bishoprids to piaintajn their state 
and dignity, and to be In place pf tneir thirds of 
the tithes. A provision was nT(ade for the infe- 
rior clergy, by compelling the ^ishbps to resign 
their impropriations and to relinquish to the in- 
cumbent the tithes of his parish. Ii was also 
proposed to grant to every par^onsfge a new en- 
dowment of certilfn lands for the klebe thereof, 
according to the third general point. Thus, in 
this comprehensive design the phtrch was pro- 
vided for, getting somewhat raoiie tban her share, 
and much more than either hen pAst service or 
perspective Employments wonl^ faave entitled 
her to. ' 

Free schools were endowed fn the principal 
towns, and it was proposed to giye to the College 
of Dublin, out of the Mnds of CfNeill and his 
clans, more than a thousand acifes, at half the 
rent to be paid by the Scottish aiid English Un- 
dertakers. 

The, remainder of the escheated property was 
to go in such shares as the "fout general points" 
laid down to the Undertakers. 

Provisions were made, which were not after- 
wards entirely folfilled, for the )uilding of seve- 
ral corporate towns in the difll srent counties. — 
Lands were to be set aside fo? these towns, fbr 
which they were to pay the same rent as the 
Undertakers. 

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124 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

But there was one proscribed class — ^tbe 
wretched remnant of the old lords and clansmen 
of the soil — what, in this liberal distribution of 
their own, was to fall to their ahare ? Here are 
the words of the Project : — 

Touching the disposing of the natives, some may be 
planted upon the tvro thousand three hundred and 
twenty-three acres of land, and the glehes of the par- 
sons ; others up<»i the lands of Sir Arthur O'Neill's sons 
and Sir Henry Qge- O'Neill's sons, and of such other 
Irish as shall be thought fit to have any freeholds there. 
Some others may be placed upon the portions of such 
servitors as ai:e not able to inhabit their lands with £ng. 
lish or Scottish t^ants, especially of such as Icuow best 
how to rule a^d order the Irish. 

Thus, though the materials for fcuaning a 
judgment oi\ the actual drama which was played 
are scantjr, we can well imsigine the ineid^i4* 
of this process of banishment ^d separation. It 
was resdved to improve upon former Plantations 
In the past' efforts to cdonize, the Irish had 
either been mifed with the English, that thereb7. 
the^y might acquire their habits of emHty aad 
industry, or else they were driven to tiie wogds, 
which, at the time, skirted the sides of their moun- 
tains and stretched along the banks of eyejry 
river. The fer^tile plains were seized on by the 
English settlors. But this did not work w^ 
The Irish, in the woods to which they bad been 
driven, or on the mountain sides, or in Ijie sa- 
crea gloom of their forests, peopled, we.nji^jc 
suppose, with ^e old, but not ioffittw £bms^ 
<5ies of ancient 1 superstition,* brooded ovor thiny 

• Bmddism. ^ . . 

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THE C0NFI8CATI0PC OF ULSTER. 1 25 

wrongs^ and planned a sure and fearful ven- 
geance. They issued from their retreats, de- 
strojed the settlements, burned the towns, way- 
laid the straggling parties, and covered the face 
of the country with fire and blood. The holds of 
Norman robbery were wrappai in, flatnes ; their 
^ocks were driven from the open pastures to the 
mountain and the wood $ their retainers were out 
off in detail by the ever watchful natives ; and 
often over the noises of their revelry were heard 
the avenging war-criea of the clansmen of Tyr- 
comnell and Tyrowen. 

" These fast places they kept tmkiiowii,*' says 
the veracious attorney-general of James^ *'foy 
making the ways and entries thereto irapaaaable » 
tibere they kept their creaghts or herds of cattle^ 
living by the milk of the cow, without husban- 
dry or tilkge ; there they increased and multi- 
plied onto infinite numbers by promiscuous gwe- 
rslion amcoigst themselves;* there they made 
their assemblies and comfmniea without diaoo- 
very; but they discovered the weakness of the 



• This charge is totally false. It was first made by St. 
Bernard, whose judgment was warped by local misre- 
presentfttiefts, and who, in fact^ knew little or nothing 
about Icetand. He said that the Irish did not contract 
outrriage, and Gerald Barry repeats the assertion ; and 
Jience Bavies and other interested calumniators have 
^mped up the charge of incest and fornication. But 
BfeMard kn«^ nothing of the peculiar Insh ritea of 
naniafe* and tieoattse thej did not marry after the 
general £uhion, he concluded, erroneously, that they 
were not married at all. Cambrensis was too glad to 
get any charge against Ireland, not to snap at this rea^ 
dily — Moore, vol. 2, p. 171. Digitized by Google 



126 TH^ CONFISCATION OF UI.8TSB." 

English dwelling in the open plains, and there 
upon made Ipeir sallies and retreats with great 
advantage. Whereas, on the other side, if thie 
KngHsh had huilded their castles and towns in 
those pfatoes of fastness, and had driven the Irish 
into the i^Ibb and open countries, where they 
might have had an eye and ohservation on them, 
the Irish had been earlj kefrt ia order." 

It was requisite to the succ^ oi the new 
Pkntadon, that su<^ consequences as are de» 
scribed above, should be carefidly guarded against 
It would ill Bmt the grave yeoman, the thrifty 
trader, t£nA the cautious burgher, who were to 
bo ttaiftported frcmt the Belds and towns of Bri- 
tain, to have such neighbours in the woods. Even 
the soatteired'^ remnant, the hapless survivors of 
the wfers of the' League, might re-construct their 
power in the gloomy security of the forest, and 
is^tliltg ^m its depths to burn, kill, and plunder, 
would thtis continue to be a source of ceaseless 
terror to Uie Undertakers; It wa* therefore prli- 
denitly resolved to fix in the plains and open 
places the natives, wh(«n the clemency of power 
still permitted to enjoy part in the distribution of 
the escheated lands. This Was a wise resolution, 
whether it would eventually be politic to civilize, 
or necessary to slay them. They were assemUed 
nnder the eyes and fortresses of the new P9pu- 
lation ; and from his square biiult toijirer ad4 bis 
fortified bawn,* he who had despoiled nUghtYratch 
over and control them. Happy state of ^ings» 

* The courtyards surroundiog the cashes iiiid hoi^aet 
of the Undertakers. . r^^ '^i^. 

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THE CONFISCATION OF VLSTEM* 127 

if only cupidity had been coaetant to execute as 
It had been wise to dett^ ; if, from the fields oi 
Ulster, the chiMrea <£ her soil had been merci- 
lessly driven U> t^e fastnesses and morasses of 
Connas^ht, and an anoient people had been, in 
'po^ance of the first intention, swept &om the 
face of the earth by the rushing tide of lawless 
immigration. But we shall see that the barba- 
rous requisitions of this project of Plantation, 
either from the fears or necessities of the plan- 
ters, were not adequately complied with. The 
Irish swordsmen, most ptobably because it 
lioight have been rash to provoke them to despair, 
were not driven into Conaattght; nor were the 
West-India isles as yet peopled with a banished 
nation.* 'The Irish tillers of the soil were ad- 
mitted, but too liber^yy, to iMcome tenants of the 
Scotch and English farmers, becnuse. they olSsried 
higher r^nts for lands^ $JBd accepted smaller 
wages' for labour. The humane, and wk^ and 
enlightened projects of the King and his eoun- 
BellorS wefe baffled by the want of .co^oper^on 
oh Ae jpart iof the hdetknt agentfr of confiscajtion, 
atid^ih^ completfeness of ito deogn waa destroyed 
by'**th^'d^ngeito«9 intrusion of the old natives "f 
' ' The't^roject contains a statistic account of the 
<tiA^nt Cdnnties,' not^ however, accurately set- 
fink dd^n thef numbfei? of acres in each, but only 
'etmctk^r^'lttg th^ eso^ieated lands availabU to the 
jf^h^ds^^ of the plamersy and cxduding unfor- 

• Barbadoes was a favourite place of wholesale banish- 
a^.pf Qromwell. ** To have them safe at the Bar- 
JoesT* wai i familiar fbnn of speech of his. 
t Leland, vol. 2, p. 437. Digitized by Google 



' 128 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER* 

feited and ch\irc1i land^^ and also excluding bogs, 
moanfains, lakes, woods, and " other unprofitable 
scopes." The measurements of land varied in 
the North ; in some counties they reckoned by 
Ballyboes or Ballibetaglis, a quantity containing 
sixty English acres, or thereabouts ; in others by 
Quarters of varying value ; in others by Tathes, 
containing thirty English acres, or thereabouts ; 
and in others by Polls, containing four acres eoclu 
The calculations of the Privy Council's Project 
is as follows : — 

Tyrowen contained of "available land," in- 
cluding the ecclesiastical possessions, 1,671 bally- 
boes, or 98,187 acres ; Coleraine, otherwise 
CFCahan's country, contained 547 ballyboes, or 
34,187 acres, of which iikQ Bishop of Derry 
claimed termon lands to the amount of 6,343 
acres ; Donegal contained 1 10,700 acres, of which 
9,000 acres were claimed as termon lands ; Fer- 
managh, commonly called McGwire's country, 
contained 1,070 tathes, or 33,437 acres, with 
forty-six islands ; Cavan, O'Reilly's country, con- 
tained 620 polU, or 40,500 acres ; and Armagh 
contained 77,800 acres, of which the Primate's 
fihare was to be 2,400 acres, and the incumbent^ 
glebes were to enjoy 4,650 acres. 

The corporate towns which this elaborate paper 
suggested, and which were to have markka and 
4*airs, and other reasonable liberties, with power 
to send members to Parliament, were to have 
been built and endowed in the following places :— . 

In Tyrowen, at Dungannon, Clogher, Omagh, 
Longhensolin, and Mountjoy; in Coleraine, at 
Limovaddy and Dungiven ; in Donegal, at Derry, 



TflS CONFISCAXION OF UJL8TJBB. 129 

Oalbey, Donegal, and BaUjahannon ; in Ferma- 
*nagh, at Lidgool, Castleskagh, and at another 
place midway between Lisgool and Ballyshannon ; 
in Cavan, at Cavan, Belturbet, and at a third 
place between Kells and Cavan, to be selected 
by the commissioners ;* and finally, in Armagh 
four corporate towns were to be built and en- 
dowed, Armagh, Mountnorris, Tanrygee in 
O'Hanlon's country, and Charlemont. 

It has been a matter of dispute as to the ex- 
tent to which the Dublin University can be con- 
sidered a purely Protestant institution — ^with that 
question we are not now to deal — ^but it tfiust be 
admitted that she derived much of her great and, 
in many senses, untold wealth, from the plun- 
dered estates of the Catholic chieftains and peo- 
ple of Ulster. In Tyrowen, the University was 
by this Project to have 813 acres ; in Coleraine 
"It was to have 1,125 acres out of the Monastery 
lands ; ill Armagh it was to have 1,200 acres ; 
in all over 3,000 acres. In addition to ^hich it 
was to have six ad vow sons in every county, three 

- '- *'Q?he ComniUftioners for the purpose of partition of 
thftcsoheated landeu The date xd their commission was 
s^ ^ 7jth of James the First, and it was '*to inquire 
what castles, manors, lordships, lands, tenements, rents, 
services, customs, duties, fishings, advowsoiis, and other 
^fiektsditements^ whatever, ntuate, lying, and being in the 
jmmet$X eoimties of Anfiagh, Coleraine, Tyrowen, D(»ie. 
-gi|^ J^nnanagh, or Cavan, or either of them, or in the 
'<^idires of them or either of them are escheated and 
come, or ought to he escheated and come to our hands 
and possession, or to the hands and possession of any of 
(nir ixrogenitors or pi«decess(M7s, Kings and Queens of 
.-:|Cn£^d/* ^» It was a comprehensive oommjasioa, 
and addressed to fit assents. — Seepos/. ^ t 

*■' ^ „ Q Digitized by LiOOgle 



IM THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

of the best and three of the second value. Thus 
the spoils of the ancient Church, and the pillage 
of the Monasteries, went to enrich what is 
called a purely Protestant foundation, and whose 
enormous wealth is supposed^to have sprung from 
the beneficent gifts of Protestant sovereigns. 

The Project was greatly modified, and many 
of its wisest provisions disregarded, in the scram- 
ble for plunder which ensued upon the flight of 
the Earls and the extinction of the last spark of 
resistance by the death of 0*D(^herty : sc that 
we must look to the Orders and Conditions for 
the Planters, and the Instructions to the Com- 
missioners, for a clearer view of the progress of 
confiscation. 

The " Orders and Conditions for the Planters''* 
begin with the usual preamble of sham rebellions 
and conspiracies, but with very real attaints and 
forfeitures. On reviewiiag the surveys, his Ma- 
jesty, " out of his princely bounty, not respecting 
his own profit^ but the public peace and welfare 
of the kingdom by the civil plantation of those 
tinreformed and waste countries, is graciously 
pleased to distribute the said lands to such of his 
subjects, as well of Great Britain as of Ireland, 
as being of merit and ability shall seek the same 
with a mind not only to benefit themselves, but 
to do service to the Crown and Commonwealth." f 

The paper next sets forth (and in this enume- 
ration of proportions of land and conditions of occu- 



• Harris's ** Hibemica," p. 123. 
t The reader is referr^i to Mr. Lascelles's very appro- 
priate remarks on the, nature of preambles, ante, 

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THJS CONFISCATION OF ULST£B. 131 

pation, it m some degree differs from the Project) 
1. The several quantities of the proportions to be 
distributed. 2. The several classes of underta- 
kers. 3. The mode of allotment ; and 4. The 
rents, services, and the tenures imder which they 
were to hold, and which they were to render. 

First, The proportions of land to be distributed to 
Undertakers shall be of three different quantities, con- 
sisting of sundry parcels or precincts of land, called bj 
certain Irish names, used and known in the said seyend 
counties, viz., Ballibetaghs, Quarters, Balliboes, Tatiies, 
and Polls ; mie first or least proportion to contain sueh 
or so many of t^e said parcds, as shall make up a thou- 
sand English acres at the least: and the second or 
middle proportion to contain such or so many of the 
parcels, as shall make up fifteen himdred English acres 
at the least ; and the last or greatest proportion to con- 
tain such or so many of the said parcels, as shall make 
up two thousand English acres at the least ; to every of 
which proportions shall be allowed such quantity of bog 
and wood, as the country shall conveniently afford. 

Secondly, The persons of the Undertakers of the seve- 
ral proportions shall be of three sorts, viz. 

1. English or Scottish, as well servitors as others, who 
are to plant their portions with English, or inland Scot- 
tish inhabitants. 

2. Servitors in the kingdom of Ireland, who may take 
meer Irish, Enghsh, or inland Scottish tenants at their 
choice. 

3. Natives of Ireland, who are to be made free- 
holders. 

Thirdly, IBs Majesty will reserve unto himself the 
appointment in what county every Undertaker shall have 
his portion. But to avoid emulation and controversy, 
which would arise among them, if every man should 
choose his place where he would be planted ; his Majesty's 
pleasiu'e is, that the sites or places of their portions in 
every county shall be distributed by lot.* 

* This system of lots was afterwards abandoned. — See 

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132 THB CONFISCATION OF ULSTER 

Lastly, The sereral articles ensaiog are to be obserred, 
as wiell on the behalf of his Majesty, as of the ser«^ 
Undertakers respectirely. 

Articles concerning the English <tnd Scottish Undertakers, 
who are to plant their portions with English and inland 
Scottish Tenants. 

1. His Majes^ is pleased to grant estates in fSae-£uin 
to them and their heirs. 

2, Thpy shall yearly yield unto his Majesty for erery 
proportion of a Uionsand acres, five pounds six shillings 
and eight pence English, and so ratably for the greater 
proportions, which is after the rate of six shillings and 
eight pence for every three score English acres. But 
noue of the said Undertakers shall pay any rent, until 
the expiration of the first two years, except the natiyes 
of Ireland, who are not subject to the charge of trans- 
portation. 

S, Every Undertaker of so much land as shall amount 
to the greatest proportion of two thousand acres, or 
thereabouts, shall hold the same by Knight Service in 
capite ; and every Undertaker of so much land as shall 
amount to the middle proportion of fifteen hundred acres, 
or tliereabouts, shall hold the same by Knight Service, 
as of the Castle of Dublin. Aud every Undertaker of 
80 much land as shall amount to the least proportion of 
R thousand acres, or thereabouts, shall hold the same in 
Common Soccage : and there shall be no wardship ux)on 
the two first discents of that land.* 



* ** Knight Ser/ice" was a military tenure, in other 
words, a tenure in chivalry, wherein the grantee and his 
heirs should either perform the service of a kni^t to 
the grantor and his heirs, or find some other person to 
perform it. The tenant, besides his military service, 
was subject to other incidental services. Ist. Aids, to 
rescue the lord from captivity, to make his son a knight, 
and to marry his daughter. 2nd. Relief, a sum paid to 
the lord by the heir to allow him to enter on his land 
- when he had attained his majority. 8rd. Primer seisin, 
a year's profit of lands given to the Crown where th« 

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THE CONFISCATION OF U^L8TER. 1 33 

4. Every Undertaker of the greatest proportion of 
two thdiifiand acres shall, within two years after ihe date 
of his letters patents, build thereupon a Castle, with a 
strong court or bawn about it. And every Undertaker 
of liie second or middle proportion of fift^n hundred 

heir was of age when his ancestor died. 4th. Wardship, 
a right to plunder a minor, vested in the King, who 
might sell the privilege. 5th. Marriage, a right in. the 
lord to get a wife or husband for his ward, if under age. 
6th. Fines upon alienation. 7th. Escheat from extinc- • 
tion by death, or commission of treason or felony* Tlie 
Act of I2th ChArles II. c. 24, which gave the coup de 
grace to the feudal system, extinguished these mon. 
strous rights, and converted all such tenures into/rcc 

and common soccape Blackstone's Commentaries on the 

Laws, vol. 2, p. 63 ; Knight's Political J^ictionary, arti- 
cle Knight Service, The effects of this odious system, 
under which civilized England groaned from the Nor- 
mans to the Roundheads, are well described by the 
judge, Blackstone, vol. 2, p. 76. The finesse and trick- 
ery of Norman lawyers were a sorer burthen to English- 
men than the mailed Barons and the loose adventurers 
with which the great Norman Plantation of England 
flooded the country — Sir Thomas Smithes Common- 
wealth, book 3, chap. 3. One would think the writers 
upon English tenures might be a little more civil about 
our Tanistry, Gavelkind, Coyne and Livery, Cosherings 
and Sessings. James the First intended to change these 
tenures for an equivalent fee-farm rent. He did not do 
(K> ; but they being *' discontinued during the usurpa- 
tion," as a great many evil things were discontinued, 
Charles the Second did not presume to revive them. 
His Statute was^the catastrophe of Feudalism. 

Socoagt was of two sorts. Free and Villein. In one 
the services are certain and honourable ; in l^e other are 
certain, but of a baser kind. Soccage was a Saxon re- 
lique <rf liberty. The tenant returned for his land fealty 
and a. certain rent. The services that were base are 
ploughing, carrying out dung, making hedges, and other 
meat! but very useful employments.--nB/acA^oncy Com. 
vol. 2, p. 60, et seq. Digitized by L^oogle 



134 THE CONFISCATION OF UL.STEB. 

acres shall, within the same time, build a stone or t)rlck 
house thereupon, with a strong court or bawn about it. 
And every Undertaker of the least proportion of a thou- 
sand acres shall, within the same time, make thereupon 
a strong court or bawn at least. And all the said Un. 
dertakers shall draw their tenants to build houses for 
themselves and their families near the principal castle, 
house, or bawn, for their mutual defence or strength. 
And they shall have sufficient timber, by the assigna- 
tion of such officers as the Lord Deputy and Coundl of 
Ireland shall appoint, out of his Majesty's woods in that 
province, for the same buildings, without paying any 
tiiing for the same during the said two years : and to 
that end there shall be a present inhibition to restrain 
the falling or destruction of the said woods in the mean 
time, for what cause soever. 

5. The said Undertakers, their heirs and assigns, shall 
have ready in their houses at all times a convenient store 
of arms, wherewith they may furnish a competent num- 
ber of able men for their defence, which may be viewed 
and mustered every half year, according to the manner 
of England. 

6. Every of the said Undertakers, English or Scottish, 
before the ensealing of his letters patents, shall take the 
Oath of Supremacy,* either in the Chancery of England 
or Ireland, or before the Commissioners to be appointed 
for establishing of the Plantation, and shall also conform 
themselves in religion according to his Majesty's laws. 

7. The said Undertakers, their heirs and assigns, shall 
not alien or demise their portions, or any part thereof, to 
the meer Irish, or to such persons as wiU not take the 
oath, which the said Undertakers are bound to take by 
the former article. And to that end a proviso shall be 
inserted in their letters patents. 

8. Every Undertaker shall, within two years after the 
date of his letters patents, plant or place a competent 
number of English or inland Scottish tenants upon his 
portion, in such manner as by the Commissioners to be 

• The oath of supremacy, which directly controverts 
one of the principal doctrines of Catholicity, was pre- 
scribed by a statute of the second year of Eliabcth. 



THE CONFISCATION OF UliSTER. 135 

appointed for the establishing of this Plantation shall be 
prescribed. 

9. Every of the said Undertakers, for the space of 
fLve years next after the date of his letters patents, shall 
be resident in person himself upon his portion, or place 
some such other person thereupon, as shall be allowed 
by the state of England or Ireland, who shall be hke- 
wise resident there during the said five years, unless by 
reason of sickness or other important cause he be licensed 
by the Lord Deputy and Council of Ireland to absent 
himself for a time. 

10. The said Undertakers shall not alien their por- 
tions during five years next after the date of their letters 
patents, but in this manner, viz,, one-third part in fee- 
farm, another third part for forty years or under, re- 
serving to themselves the other third part without alie- 
nation, during the said five years. But after the said 
five years they shall be at liberty to alien to all persons, 
except the meer Irish, and such x>ersons as will not take 
the oath, which the said Undertakers are to take as 
aforesaid. 

11. The said Undertakers shall have power to erect 
manors, to hold Courts Baron twice every year, to 
create tenures to hold of themselves upon alienation of 
any part of their said portions, so as the same do not 
exceed the moiety thereof. 

12. The said Undertakers shall not demise any part of 
their lands at will only, hut shall make certain estates for 
years, for life, in tail, or in fee-simple, 

13. No uncertain rent shall be reserved by the said 
Undertakers, but the same shall be expressly set down 
without reference to the custom of the country, and a 
proviso shall be inserted in their letters patents against 
Cuttings, Cosheries, and other Irish exactions upon their 
tenants. 

14. The said Undertakers, their heirs and assigns, 
during the space of seven years next ensuing, shall haVe 
power to transport all commodities growing upon their 
own lands, which they shall hold by those letters patents, 
without paying any custom or imposition for the same. 

15. It shall be lawful for the said Undertakers, for the 
space of five years next ensuing, to send for, and bring 

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136 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

into Ireland, out of Great Britain, victuals and utensils 
for their househdds, materials and tools for bailding« . 
and husbandry, and cattle to stock and manure the 
lands aforesaid, without paying any custom for the same, 
which shall not extend to any commodities by way of 
merchandize.* 

The most remarkable of these orders and con- 
ditions are those which are aimed at what the 
insolence of English pride has always termed 
" meer Irishry." The Irish are exceptions to the 
exemption from rent — on the ground that thejr 
were ^' in a fashion born to the soil" and had no 
journey to go to take possession. Undertakers^ 
those strange usurpers, are forbidden to demise to 
the meer Insh, or to any tenant who will not take 
the Oath of Supremacy, which was a practical ex- 
clusion of the Catholics of Ulster, if these under- 
takers acted upon the injunction. The King's 
tenants are allowed to alien after five years* 
possession, but not to the " meer Irish." 

There is, however, one evidence of true wis- 
dom in these orders. The Bang's Council had a 
just appreciation of im evil, only second ia 
magnitude to confiscation itself. The precautions . 
against Absenteeism were admirably wise» and bad 
the whole system been more generous and caUio- 
lic, would have produced infinite advantage to 
the tenants and labourers. But this was anoth^ . 
of the rocks on which James's great measu)re ., 
struck. The patentees lived in Engli^id, and Ie& ; 

, • ' i * 

* I hare preferred to give these conditions in the text 
rather than in the Appendix, as I think the clear under- 
standing of them most necessary to an accurate exami- 
nation of the Plantation. r^ i ' 

Digitized by VjOOQIC, 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 137 

thw estates and their depeBdants to the manage- 
ment of agents who Were ignorant and indolent, 
and whb, careless of the success of the Planta- 
tion — namely, the total eradication of the Irish- 
men — countenanced *' the dangerous intrusion of 
the natives.** 

The servitors, persons who had served his 
Majesty in war or irt an official capacity in Ire- 
land, and to whom was extended the privilege of 
inhabiting their portions with meer Irish tenants, 
were to have an estate in fee farm, paying to the 
King a yearly rent of eight pounds for etery 
proportion of a thousand acres which they should 
stock with meet natives^ but mily five pounds, six 
ishillings and eight pence for every thousand acres 
on which they should place English or Scotch 
tenants. They were to enjoy the same tenures 
and perform the same conditions as the under- 
takers — ^to eschew just as steadfastly all Irish 
customs— to take the Oath of Supremacy aind be 
conformable in religion. And they were forbidden 
to alien to any of the Irish who would not fake 
the same oath, and manifest tbte same conformity 
as themselves. 

With regaM to the Irish njitives, who were to 
be iidtriitted as freeholders upon the Plantation, 
th^j^ ^ere to have estates in fee farm, payinjg a 
yeari^'rent of ten pounds, thirteen shillings and 
fotri"pence, for every sixty acres, btrt not paying 
rent for thfe first year,* They were bound not 



* The English servitor has his land at the rate of sixty 
acres, for ten shillings — the Irish freeholder for the 
•ame quantity pays ten pounds. 



138 THB CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

to take Irish exactions, and to adopt the agricul- 
tural and tillage systems of the EngUsh Pale. 
** Thus," as Sir Thomas Philips says, *< after a 
prescribed number of freeholders and leaseholders 
were settled upon every land, and rents therein 
set down, they might let the remainder to natives, 
for lives, so as they were conformable in religioa, 
and for the favour to double their rents."* The 
result of which was, that out of about two hundred 
Undertakers in the six counties, there were, in the 
year 1619, not mtae th«a tf&EL or twelve Irish. 
The only ^lare they had in the Plantation was 
tiie privilege of paying enormous rents for limited 
interests, and receiving' small and inadequate 
wages, for the labour they gave to the farms, the 
Castles ^and the Bawns of the Scotch aud Eng- 
lish adyenturers, who had been thrust into their 
lands. . . , , , 

It was determined to appoint a commission to 
set fwth the several proportions, , and "jtP order 
and setlfe the Plantation" according tp a.^ode of 
instructio^ with which they were to be furnisbed 
by the King and bis Council. The Undertakers 
were bound to attend the Conxmis^ipners^^ to 
receive directions about the management of their 
Plantations, and to enter into a bond before them, 
to perform the articles according to their, several 
distinctions of Buildings Planting, Residence, 
Alienation, and Leases. It^was finally resolved 
that in all the escheated counties there should be 
a sufficient number of Market towns» anrf. Corpo- 
rations " for the habitation and settling of tria^es- 

• ** Letter to King Charles.'' Harris's Hihernica^ p. 242. 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 139 

men and artificers/' and one Free School at least 
in every county fw the education of youth in 
learning and religion; that there should be an 
adequate number of Parish Churches and Incum- 
bents in each county ; and that Tithes should be 
paid by the people in kind. 

If any process of reasoning could reconcile us 
to the mighty wrong of the Plantation, we should 
find sufficient grounds for admiration in the pro- 
visions contained in these orders. The conditions 
of teanrej-^oiamely, residence, building, and fixed 
habitation, — weace thooe nioBt easentially required 
to produce tranquillity, social enjoyment, and in- 
dustrial wealth. The habits of the people had 
been unsettled* and indolent, and they were 
contented with a mean shelter of hurdle-built huts, 
without pertnanence or beauty; the necessity 
imposed on them of raising houses with ^tone 
and lime, and of permanent residence, would 
control the roving dispositions Of the people, and 
cover the face of the country with solid buildings 
for shelter and protection. Nor must we forget 
that the Undertakers and servitors were strictly 
enjoined not to create tenancies at will, but were, 
by the very terms of their patents, bound to give 
substantial interests for a long period of years or 
for life. But those who could have been re- 
formed and civilized by such revolutions in habits 

* It cannot be said that they were a wandering or 
Nomadic race, for each clan was confined to its own 
patrimo^al district. They only wandered to make war 
upon their neighbours, or to take prey, or to levy such 
•* Irish exactions" as excited the anger of Davies, and 
other plundering philanthropists. 



140 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

ind enjoyments, were excluded entirely from the 
benefit of the change. The leading principle of 
the Plantation, and the main idea of its designers 
was, " the avoiding of natives, and the planting 
only with British."* Such a system was too 
vicious to endure — extermination, which Spenser 
counselled, could alone have enabled the Planta- 
tion to work well, by a total removal of the 
original owners of the lands ; but, without death 
or banishment, entire exclusion was impossible ; 
they mingled with the new populatioa in a com-, 
munion of hatred 'and ifl-inil^ and instead of a 
great nation, the fusion of many races, they pre- 
sented for a long period the appearance of rival 
factions restrained, and that only occasionally by 
law, from attempting mntual destruction. 

In pursuance of the direction of " the Ovders 
and Conditions," a commission was issued to ** our 
right trusty and well-beloved" Sir Arthur Chi^ 
Chester, four Bishops and Archbishops, eleven 
Knights, and to William Parsons, Surveyor-Ge- 
neral, and George Sexton, the Escheator, within 
UlsteTyf to inquire into tiie lands, manors^ and 



• Letter of Sir Thomas Smith to Kmg Charles. 

t The following are the Commissioners : Sir Ar- 
thur Chichester, Lord Deputy ; Archbishops of Dublin 
and Armagh j Bishops of Derry «nd Kilmore ; Sir 
Thomas Ridgtfway, Treasurer at war; Sir ]$iefal#d - 
Wingfield, Marshal ;♦ Sir Humphry Winche, Caii^^uft^ ■ ' 
tice; Sir John Denshato, Chief Baron; Sir 01ireriS^> • 
John, Master of the Ordnance; Kr OiiTer Laixitarr^A 

» Wlnjjfleld waa the founder of the PewMBcoiirt teiitly,'OMtfiif "fhVi^I 
•ucceesftil suldient of fortune, who weie th» raatedAl of m«cl).*W>blli(yb , 
in Ireland. 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTKK. 141 

castles, that had come or ought to have comcy to the 
hands of James or his predecessors, by attaint, 
escheat, forfeiture, or by any means whatsoever—r 
to make exact surveys in each of the counties^ 
by the number of Bally boes, Tathes, Polls, or 
Acres — and after such inquisition and survey, to 
plot and divide the lands into Parishes, Precincts, 
and Proportions, and to distinguish them by par- 
ticular names, mears, and bounds, having re- 
ference to the intentions of the Project and the 
Orders. To these Commissioners vere given the 
most ample powers of hearing, and determining, 
all matters between the King and the Planters, 
and between party and party. The following are 
the articles for instruction to the Commissioners, 
for the Plantation of Ulster : 

Jakss Bex. 

l9t. ^niat a genend care be taken, that euch Orders, 
ConditioDs, mikd Articles, as have been lately pablisbed 
in pmt, OT are to be pvinted or transmitted, tonc^ng 
the plantation* be observed, and pot in execution, as 
well by the Commissioners, as by the Undertakers. 

fid. That Ifee said Commissioners be ready to begin 
thucjoam^ into oof Province of Ulster for the Execti. 
tion of theur Commission before the end of July next, or 
sooner if it may be. 

3d. The omissions and de^ts in the ISormer survey 
of t}ke escheated lands in Ulster, either for us or the 
Chucph^ ase to be sui^Ued and amended by new Inqui- 

Sir fieniy Power ; Sir Gerald Moore ; Sir Adam Loftus ; 
(the laslilve were of the Privy Council) ; 1^ Richard 
Co<^e» Principal Secretary £(»' IreUmd ; Sir John Davies, 
AttorBey<^enenl; Wiiliiun Parsons, Snrveyor-General; 
and George Sexton, Esq., Escheator for Ulster. The 
latter .office was no sineenre in James's time, as the 
patent roll of his reign will abundantly testify. ' 



142 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTEB/ 

8itd(Hi8, and the ecclesiastical lands to be distinguished 
from the lands belonging to the crown. 

4th. The .counties being divided into seyeral propor- 
tions, every proportion is to be bounded out hy the 
known Metts and Names, with the particular mention 
both of the number and name, of every Ballyboe, Tathe, 
Poll, Quarter, or the like Irish precinct of land, that is 
contained in every i)ortion, and to give each portion a 
proper name to be known by, and in the proportions 
lying near to the high way», choice is to be made of the 
most fit seat for Undertakers to build upon, in such sort 
as may best serve for the safety and succour of passengers; 
and also to allot and set out by Mears and Bounds unto 
every proportion so much Bogg and Wood over and above 
his number of Acres, as ^e jj^lace wliere the proportion 
shall lie may conveniently anord, having respect to the 
adjaeait proportions. 

5th. Because the article of casting lots discourageth 
many that are sufficient, and would he glad to dwell to- 
gether, that therefore every county be divided in greater 
precincts, every precinct containing eight, ten, to twelve 
thousand acres, axx)ording to the greatness of the county, 
and those precincts to contain several proportions lying 
together?, to ,the end ik&% so many consoi:ts of Uiider- 
takers may here be appointed as there ace several pre- 
cincts ; whicb being done,. then these consorts may cast 
lots for the p^^cin^tp, and afterwards divide every pre- 
cinct amongst the particular Undertakers of that c(»i8ort, 
either by agceem^nt or by lot ; and this form not to be 
conoluded but upon .oonsideratlon taken thereof by the 
CommiB^oners /there, who havli^ reported back their 
opinions, some such course maybe xesolved, as. to us 
shall be thought most convenient. 

6th. To cause plots to be made of every CQ^^lty, and 
in tiie said plot to prick out the several precincts, and in 
the precincts the several proportions by tb^r *UM»es. 

7di. S]ich great woods, as the , Coipc^mis^ners i|hall 
make choice of to be preserved for our i^^e, w:e,tO be ex- 
cepted out of the proportions, and to be reservedlfbr the 
Undertakers* buildings, and |pr s^ch other purposes as to 
us shall be thought fit 

8th. That in the surveys observation J>e made what 

Digitized by VjOOQIC ' 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 143 

proportions by name are fittest to be allotted to the Bri- 
tons, what to the Servitors, and what to the Natives ; 
wherein this respect is to be had, that the Britons he 
put in places of best safety, the Natives t6 he dispersed, . 
and the Servitors planted in those places, which are of 
greatest importance to serve the rest. 

9th. The Commissioners are to limit and bound out 
the precincts of the sereral parishes, according to their 
discretions, notwithstanding the limitation of the pre- 
cinct ; wherein they may observe the ancient limits^ of 
the old parishes, so ad the ibtne breed not ai greater in- 
convenience to the Plai\tation, and to assign to the in- 
cumbent of each parish a Glebe after the rate of three- 
score Acres for-every thousand Acres within the parishes 
in tiie most convenient places^ or nearest to the churches ; 
and for the more o^rtttmty to give each Gleb6 a certain 
name, whereby it may be known ; and to take OTder, 
that there be a proviso in the letters patent fbr passing 
the Glebes to restrain the alienations tftterebf, saving 
during incumbencies. 

10th. It is fit, that certain pbttioils'be ATl6tted and 
laid out for'towns in the places mentioned ifi thfe prbject, 
or in more convenient places, as shall s^m best to the 
Commissioners, hkving regard that the land be laid 
as near to the towns as may be. 

llth. The parcels of land, which shall' be allotted to 
the College of Dublin, and to the Free Schools in the 
several counties, are to be set out and* distinguished by 
Mears and Bounds, to the end the same may be accord- 
ingly passed by several grants from us. The Commis- 
sioners likewise are to set out the quantity of three great 
proportions lying together in the County of Armagh to 
be allotted to the said College of Dublin, and six thou- 
sand Acres to be taken out of the lands omitted in the 
last survey (if So much shall be foutid), these to be only 
of our land, and not of tte Church land . 
, 12th. That there be set out and resemd t#^lve thou- 
sand Acres, either out6f the proportions; orbtherwise 
out of the lahds omitted in thfe stftVeif , in such counties 
and places, us to olir Deputy and Commissioners «hall be 
thought meet, the same to be disposed by us for the En- 
^Qwment of an Hospital to be erected fbr maimed and 



144 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

diseased Soldiers, in such place and manner, as we shall 
hereafter appoint. 

13th. The Commissioners shall by the authority given 
them hear and determine all titles and controversies by 
final Order and Decree, that shall be brought before 
them, concerning any lands and possessions (the Church 
lands only excepted) which nevertheless they shall have 
also power to Order and Decree (as aforesaid) so it be 
done with the consent of the Lord Deputy, the Arch- 
bishop of DubliU) and the now bishop of Derry. They 
shall also compound for titles between us and our sub- 
jects, and between party and party. 

14th. And whereas complaint is made, that the sites 
of some Cathedral Churches, the places of the residence 
of ihe Bishops, Deans, Chapters, Dignitaries, and Pre- 
bends in Ulster, be passed away to divers in fee-farm by 
letters patent under pretence of Monastery lands, to the 
great detriment of those Churches, the Commissioners 
shall have authority to examine the same, and finding 
the information true, to consider of some course to be 
taken for restitution to be made to the Churches from 
whence they were formerly taken, with such considera- 
tion to those that now hold them, as standeth with 
equity, according to the circumstances considerable. 
And farther we are pleased, that the escheated lands, 
out of which the Bishops have had heretofore rent, cer- 
tainty of refections, or pensions, should be esteemed 
Ecclesiastical, and be annexed to the several Sees 
whereunto they did pay the same, whereof the Commis- 
sioners are to take particular notice, and to see the same 
effected accordingly. 

15th. Tou our Deputy shall cause our Judges and 
learned Counsel to set down our titles to the several 
lands lately escheated in Ulster, to see the records to 
be perfited, and to take care that they may be safely 
preserved and kept secret, and to transmit the cases 
hither under the hands of our Judges and learoed 
Counsel. 

16th. All Acts, Orders, and Decrees, resolved there to 
be recorded into two books, the one to remain there in 
some Court of Record, and the other to be transmitted 
to our Counsel here. 

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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 145 

17th. It is also to be considered what portions are fit 
to be allotted to the Mother of the late Earl of TyrcoDnel, 
the Mother of Mac Qwire, Katherlne Butler, the late 
Widow of Mulmorie 0*Rely, and such others as claim 
jointures ; and that the Commissioners do (if they have 
cause) allow the same unto them during their lives, and 
the reversion to the natives, with condition that thej 
observe the Articles of the Plantation, as other Under- 
takers do, or otherwise to assign them recompence in 
some other place. 

18th. The river fishings in loughs and rivers are to 
be allotted unto the proportions next adjoining unto the 
loughs and rivers, wherein the said fishings are, the one 
moiety to the proportion lying on the one side of the 
river or lough, and the other moiety to the proportion 
lying on the other side, unless by necessity or incon- 
veniency it shall be found fitting to be allotted to the 
one side ; for which fishing some increase of rent is to be 
reserved unto us, as to the Commissioners shall be 
thought fit. 

19th. That return be made of their proceedings and 
doings by virtue of this Commission and instructions be- 
fbre Hallow-mass next, that we may have convenient 
time to resolve thereupon this winter, and to signify our 
pleasure against the next spring. 

In pursuance of the terms of this very ample 
commission, inquisitions were held concerning 
the escheated lands, and were returned to the 
Rolls Office,* Other inquisitions issued con- 

* In this ecHtntry, owing to the niggardly spirit, if no- 
thing worse, of Government, the records are badly kept, 
and but few of tl^m are printed. In the Bolls' Offioe, 
in the Custom House, in ibe Record Department of the 
Paymaster of Civil Services (Custom House), and in 
the Becord Tower in the Castle, there are immense 
numbers of the most valuable documents for the elucida- 
tion of both national and fiimily history. But tiiere is 
no government in Ireland. What bears the name in 
ET^land, after printing the Ordinance Memoir of Derry, 
I 



146 THE CONFISCATION OP UL8TER. 

ceming the escheated mountains, and inquisitions 
were held, and the findings with regard to Cayan, 
Fermanagh, Donegal, and Tjrowen are forth- 
coming. 

We have now before us the means of judging 
the merits of this Plantation. The titles exist- 
ing under its patents are sanctified by time and 
secure by public honour. It would not be open 
to the nation to canvass the original sin of grants 
which long possession has rendered sacred. But 
though none but vulgar fanatics would read his- 
tory with a view to revive a Court of Claims, 
or imitate the villanous attempt which Charles 
the First made to discover defective titles,* still 
it would be a great error in politics for a nation 
ever to forget the occurrence of such a political 
phenomenon as the Plantation of Ulster. It is 
only with a view to assist in keeping alive a 
vivid memory of this mighty wrong, to display 
the internal machinery of the work, to trace the 
natural results flowing from the loss of inde- 
pendence, namely, cruelty and confiscation,'!' that 
this essay has been written. 

refused to go on with the rest, though thereby we should 
have the authentic history of Ireland complete. The 
same government printed the roll of patents of James the 
First and Charles l^e First, and were l^en stopped by 
their economy. It would be well if any Lri^ member 
who has time to spare would turn his valuable attention 
to this matter. 

• Dr. Madden, with considerable power, defends the 
designer of Ortelius* map from having such an object — 
United Irishmen, vol. ii., 2nd series, p. 508, in tlie 
Appendix. 

t Is not confiscation rife at this moment? Tlie whole 
revenues and the rents of Ireland are confiscated to the 



TttE CONFISCATIONOF ULST£H. 147 

The Plantation, though it did not fulfil its 
original idea — grand and abominable — of destroy- 
ing an entire people, wrought some singular 
effects in the history of Ireland, and produced a 
strange influence on the fortunes of those kingly 
robbers by whom it was deigned. In that re- 
markable colony which the first Stuart planted 
in the broad estates of Irish pinoes, noblemen, 
and gentlemen, his wretched son and grandson 
encountered the most inveterate hostility. On 
the banks of a memorable river that ran through 
the old territories of Ultonia, the last of the 
Stuarts expiated his sins against Liberty. The 
erimes of the father were visited with usurious 
interest on the head <^ the son. 

But it is in Ulster that the effects of the 
Plantation are most striking. The new people 
Iiave kept aloof from the ancient inhabitants ; dif- 
ference of preed, difference of habits, difference of 
tradition^ and more than all, the operation of 
the Penal Code, have kept them sundered. The 
traditional memories of the Northern Irish look 
towards Scotland. For one short period, bril- 
liant, futile and delusive, a new spirit seemed 
to arise in the principalities of the O'Neills and 
the O'Donnells, The independence of Ireland 
had been torn from her by a parliamentary usur- 
patioQ; her ancient constitutional rights, which 
had survived the throes of her long struggle, 
were trampled on by the English legislature; 
the nation awoke to resistance — ^Ulster pondered 

iiae of England, to the utter pauperization of those who 
raised ihem all. Digi,,ed by Google 



148 THE CONFISCATION OF UL9TEB. 

on the reasonings of Moljnenx, and was fired bj 
the inspired eloquence of Grattan; and in the 
very heart of the Plantation, in the halls of 
Dungannon,* the Volunteers of Ireland pro- 
nounced her Liberty. 

But alas! even in that great movement, the 
" meer Irish" were to be again excluded. They 
were to obtain as scant a gift of freedom as their 
fathers of property; the inveterate prejudices 
and traditions which, by the principle of the 
Confiscation, were inseparable from the descend- 
ants of the Scotch and English Undertakers, 
were busy with Irish freedom, and succeeded in 
rendering a great army a mere gewgaw and a 
pageant, and what might have been a National 
Revolution little more than a military panto- 
mime. The predominant feeling of the highest 
men amongst the Volunteers was against the 
" meer Catholics;" furious for liberty, they were 
liberal of exclusion ; the genius of Flood, the 
amiable and benevolent insipidity of Charlemont 
could not save them from intolerance or from 
fear of their countrymen ; they foolishly imagined 
that a nation could be created out of such 
elemental discord as their religious exclusiveness 
must of necessity have produced. And their 
glory was turned into derision j they repelled 

* ** The "Lord. Chichester hath one thousand one hun- 
dred and forty acres, called Dungannon. Upon this is 
built a fort of lime and stone, with four half bulwarks 
and a deep ditch around it, twenty feet broad, and 
counterscarped. His lordship is to build a town in 
Dungannon, for which there is laid out 500 acres." — 
Pynnars Survey, in Harris's Hibernica^^ 208. 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTElt. 149 

it is true, " the dangerous intrusion of the na- 
tives ;" but they lost their country. 

By incessant, war, and by the intrigues of 
English policy, the entire people of Ireland had 
been reduced to the lowest scale of social life 
— their lands were ravaged, the fruits of the 
earth destroyed, the villages of the peasantry 
burned, the peasantry themselves driven to the 
fastnesses and the forests. The first object was 
to re-people the deserted plains, to stud them 
with permanent residences, provided with all 
the necessaries of civilized homes; to cluster 
together groups of habitations, where industrial 
association would in time produce commerce and 
create national wealth ; and the provisions given 
in the Conditions for Undertakers tended to 
procure this desired result. Though the direc- 
tions with regard to castles and bawns were not 
strictly complied with, yet villages and towns 
gradually arose in the escheated counties ; 
strongly protected fortresses and mansions sprung 
up on every side; houses of worship — ^not, in- 
deed, of the banished faith, the old inheritance 
of Ulster, but of new and hungry religionists, 
of discordant creeds — and schools for the educa- 
tion of youth, were seen in most parts of the 
North. 

No better choice could have been made than the 
Scotch to form the staff of the colony. They were 
thrifty, industrious, hungry, avaricious, and perse- 
vering, and had made great advances in social im- 
provement, agriculture, and manufactures. They 
were well adapted to fulfil another object of ih 
Plantation, the creation of an industrious po 



150 THE CONFISCATION OF UL8T£K. 

lation in the North, by whose energies and reso- 
lution the gr^t natural resources of tfaie country 
might be turned to the best account And in 
this they succeeded fully. In no other part of 
Ireland can be found the same amount of com* 
znercial enterprise and manufacturing activity; 
in no where else are the peasantry more indus- 
trious and frugal, and with so high a standard 
of social comlbrt ; and in Ulster alone, after all 
its revolutions and all the terrible sufferings of 
social convulsion, do we find any protection 
given to the tillers of the soil against the harsh 
practices and overweening egotism of proprietor- 
ship.* The restraints upon the creation of tenan- 
cies at will has acted well : the tenures in the 
North are generally valuable freeholds, to which 
are attached a great protection for industry and 
a great stimulant for enterprise. 

But all these fair promises — all these oastleg, 
churches, schools — all th^ busy hum of industry, 
this trade and manufacture were of small avail. 
The exclusion of the natives planted a germ (^ 
destruction in the goodly enterprize. Their ex- 
termioation would have been a matter much to 
have been desired by English statesmen and 
Scotch adventurers. But it is not so easy to 
exterminate a people. How could a population 
even reduced as the Northern clans were, be 
driven from their native soil ? f Tom from their 
dwellings, what was to be done with them ? With 



* The Tenant Eight. It grows directly, but not 
naturally, out of the Plantation, 
t De Beaumont, v*)l. 1 , Taylor's Tpansl. page 56. 



TttE CONFISCATION OF ULSTfiR. 151 

a hundred Raleighs their entire destruction would 
have been ^ diflSicult matter — and if the enviable 
consummation of their eradication were unattain* 
able, how and wher^ were they to live ? A middle 
coursa was adopted ; life was awarded on the 
conditions of ill paid labour and oppressive rents. 
The natives became the hewers of wood and the 
drawers of water, where they had once owned the 
soil and reaped for themselves its abundant fruits. 
Hence two elements were placed in continual 
and angry opposition ; ownership and usurpation^ 
embittered with diversity of creed and race. The 
first fruits were visible in the afiair of 1641 ; ♦ 

* Dte Beaumont, who takes too much for giaated tha 
English accounts o£ the Rebellion, makes an ingenious 
but certainly not an accurate, remark upon itt-.-**Ou 
put dam ■ cet instant solennel ou toutes les passions 
etaient en jeus juger celle qui dominaient dans leur ame ; 
et il ^t remarquable pas un seul Ecossais ne fut tu6 & 
leur T/;ei|geanc0 se porta sur les Anglais. N^t-ce pM 
gue la sentiment national etait alons chez eux superieur 
encore 4 la passion religieuse? Les Ecossias etoient 
bien par leur Pnritanisme les plus terribles ennemis de 
rirelande Catholique ; mais c'etaient des ennemis nou- 
veaux, tandis que leurs. Ennemis inveteres, leur enne* 
mis de cinq Siceles, c'etaient les Anglais de Henri YIII., 
et d'Elizabeth, derniers conquerants, les Anglais de 
Jacques, colons spoliateurs et Protestants. Dans Texe* 
cution de cet terrible vengeance, ou se resumaient taut de 
si anciens ressentiments, il se commit de crant^s dont ou 
se sent k peine le courage de presenter le recit." ** In this 
awful moment, when all the passions of the Irish were 
at work, we may judge which passion was predominant 
in their souls ; and it is remarkable that in the first 
moment not a single Scotchman was killed ; their yen« 
geance in the beginning was directed against the Eng- 
lish. Was not this because the national sentiment 
was still superior to religious passions? The Scotch, 



152 TB£ CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

nor, though better prospects now appear, have 
the effects of the great error of the Plantation 
altogether ceased. There was no policy but 
this — to exterminate or to consolidate ; neither 
was adopted, and the result was that the Planta- 
tion proved to be an unsuccessful experiment of 
reformation, a great oppression without anything 
ennobling to atone for its grievous wrongs. 

from their puritanism, were the moft terrible enemies 
of Catholic Ireland ; but they were new enemies, whilst 
their inveterate enemies, the enemies of five centniies. 
were the English, the English of Henry II., the first in- 
vader, the English of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, the last 
conquerors, the English of James I., protestant and plun- 
dering settlers. In the execution of terrible vengeance, io 
which so many ancient resentments were united, cruelties 
were committed which will scarcely bear recital." — De 
Beaumont* 8 Ireland, Taylor* 8 translation, vol. 1, p. 67. De 
Beaumont had probably read ** Temple's Eebelhon,'* the 
most arrant collection of profane tisilsehood in English 
literature. Milton says, that five hundred thousand 
. Protestants were murdered ; Leland more wisely reduces 
the number to twelve thousand ; whereas Pynnar, who 
surveyed the escheated counties in 1619, gives as the 
amount of his accurate examination the following figures ; 
the whole contents of the six counties are, fluniSes 1974 : 
men capable of bearing arms, 6215. 



d by Google 



THE COKFMCATIOK OF ULSTEB. 153 



CHAPTER VI. 

Picture of Ulstcar— Tables of the Escheated Property- 
Taking seizin. 

There are many derivations given by different 
writers of the name of Ulster. Some assert 
that it comes from Uladh, which signifies " great 
wealth," thus indicating that fatal fertility which 
attracted the cupidity of the neighbouring British 
races. Others attribute it to OUamh, a celebrated 
monarch, who, several centuries before our era, 
reigned over the Kingdom of Ulster. The name 
of Uladh was applied in later times solely to 
Dalaradia (which the Irish pronounce Dal-aree) 
comprising the following districts — Iveagh, Ma- 
gennis's country; Kinelarty, Mao Artan'S coun- 
try; The Ardes, the country of the Savadges;* 
ClanaodhbuighjUpperandLower ; the principality 
of Mac Neill Boye, " a bloodte rebbete**^ This 
name obtained the classic form of Ulidia, and 
the general designation of the Northern King- 
dom was dignified into Ultonia. 

Ancient Ulster, " that land good and flourish- 
ing, with many excellent commodities, plentiful 
in all kinds of provision, the soil rich and fer- 

• An English colony, which has kept ita place in the 
Lower Ardes from the time of John De Courcy, Earl of 

Ulster, 1172. Pootrlr^ 

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154 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTBlU 

tile, the air sweet and temperate, the havens vwj 
safe and commodious"^'— that iUiistrious seat of 
piety and the centre of enlightenment — com- 
prised the territories of Oirgiall, or Uriell, now 
Louth, Monaghan, and Armagh, with some parts 
of Tyrowen and Fermanagh; Dal-Rieda, the 
northern part of Antrim ; Tir Eogain and Tir- 
connaill, now Tyrowen, Deny, and Donegal; 
and Fermanagh.! 

The aspect of the country is bold and pic* 
turesque. Filled with fertile and extensive 
plains and exquisite '^ glynnes," it possesses still 
nobler features in the majestic mountains o( 
Down, where Slieve Donnard raises his lofty 
bead three, thousand feet above the sea. Through 
Antrim, Tyrowen, Coleraine, Tyrconnell, and 
Fermanagh, the eye rests every where upon 
these great children of Nature, — ^in Cavan thQ 
lofty Cuilcagh, the cradle of the Shannon, from 
which it pours its wealth of waters through 
eleven counties, towers in pride above the an- 
cient territories of the O'Reillys. But of a still 
more exquisite beauty are those small, conical 
hills, covered with the teeming evidences of fer- 
tility, with their green uplands and finely culti- 
vated slopes, skirted with overhanging woods, 
that have as yet escaped the axe# The folly of 
superstition, which imposed on the credulity 
of such writers as the priest Cambrensis, has 

* Sir John Temple's History of the KebeUion, p. 6« 
7th ed. 

t There is a very valuable note of Mr. OT)onovaa on 
this subject, in a paper of Ms, treating of the Charter of 
Newry — Dublin Penny JournaU ul[^f^ 4 CP- 1 02. 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 155 

peopled these vales and glynnes and romantic 
hills with fountains of wonder-working power ;* 
but the only marvels to be witnessed there, are 
the miracles of beauty which Nature's kindly 
hand is ever working. 

Scattered over the face of Ulster are Lakes 
or Loughs, some possessing the magnitude of 
inland seas, and others much smaller, but deep 
and well stored with fish — " so that they are not 
only delightful, especially such as are situated 
in some dale or vafiey, or environed round about 
by pleasant little hills (as it falleth out in the 
most of them), but also commodious and profit- 
able, affording good opportunity of building 
houses and castles on their borders, which was 
done in many places by the English and the 
Scotch, who had made several fair plantations, 
and would have done more if it had not been 
hindered by that horrible rebellion of the bloody 
Irish ; in the beginning of which many of them 
trere destroyed by these barbarians"! These 
diminutive lakes were dotted with islands, which 
are both '' commodious and pleasant.'^ In the isles 
of the larger lakes, such as Lough Erne and the 
Lake of Feval, we are told by Boate, were often- 

• See Boate*8 Natural Philosophy of Ireland, chap, 
vii., section iii., on the fobulous fountains of GlralduB' 
Cambrensis. It appears that Barry (who was a Welsh, 
man, and therefore, with the affectation of many mid- 
dling scholars, called himself Cambrensis) says that 
there was one Ulster fountain in which the fortunate 
.man who dipped himself would never become grey. 
Barry had enormous powers of belief, and attributed the 
same qualification to others. ^ , 

f ** Natural Philosophy of Ireland," chap^F,9§S^^. ; 



156 THE CONFISCATION OP ULSTER. 

times to be found the dwellings of the Planters, 
Such of the islands as were not inhabited were 
without woodland, but being in general covered 
with sweet grass they were turned into pasture 
for all kinds of cattle. 

Boate gives a pleasing picture of the studious 
and contemplative life of those who dwelt in the 
sweet sylvan solitudes of the lakes, where they 
passed their time in much contentment, finding 
there not only privacy and quiet with opportunity 
for study and contemplation, ** but besides great 
delightfulness in the place, with a variety of very 
sweet pastimes in fowling, fishing, planting, and 
gardening." Certainly it was not without true 
ft^cotch foresight that these apostles of civili^ 
adopted the Ulster mission. Iii one of the lai^ 
isles of Lough £me, Sir Henry Spottiswood, J^ 
a fine eeat, siurrounded, after the most approved 
Planter-^shKHi with frowning battlemeats «,ad 
bawbs, that would have won approving snules 
f]K>m Pynnar ; orchards bending under the white 
weight of their blossoms ; gajrdens rich in ev^ry 
%hild of Flora ; and a. picturesque village yrith its 
church and steeple (and doub^ess an iQOtimbe&i 
with his due proportion and hia^ glebe lands) 
which comfortable establishment, " whether it is 
in being yet or destroyed by the barbarian, and 
bloody rebels I am not informed.*** Possibly the 
"barbarian bloody rebels may have cast some looks 

♦ Boafe, dbap. 9, p. 43. This Bdate can never kx* at 
•a scene in nature, let it be tbe most charming (ir ikibliiao, 
without examining its conrenleiK^ fbr a BlktiliU^. 
His taste in landscape ia thoiaste Of ^ 'SodtChTMJifia^ it 
^ quite brigand^sque. 



TBUB CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 157 

upon their old pleasure grounds in the loughs, 
greatly to the disconcerting of Sir Henry. The 
dreams of Spenser were disturbed after some such 
fashion in the palace of Desmond, on the banks of 
the Muila. 

Lough Erne is filled with islands, the most 
remarkable of which, though not for natural 
beauty, is Devenish. It contains the ruins of 
an ancient Priory of the date of 1449, which, how- 
ever, could not have for any great length of time 
escaped the marauding barbarism of the day ; for 
Sir John Da vies, in his letter to Salisbury (1606) 
says that the Lord Deputy, during his Northern 
circuit, held his sessions in the Isle of Devenish, 
in the ruins of an old abbey there, * But though 
Lough Erne has more picturesque beauty, Lough 
Neagh is a lake of greater size and greater im- 
portance. It waters ^\q of the counties, three of 
them being escheated lands, Tyrowen, Armagh, 
and Deny. The waters of this great inland sea 
are swelled by six river tributaries and number- 
less brooks, f It was said to possess healing and 
petrifying powers, and Stuart mentions that a 
lough near Armagh, which had been drained 
by Mr. Maxwell at Eanachbuidhe (afterwards 
called Rosebrook,) possessed the latter quality 



• Sir John Davies's **Letter to Lord Salisbury," p. 242. 

f Harris repeats some dull fables, about the origin 
of this lake. Harris's Down, p. 157. He says that the 
ancient historians of Ireland assert, that at the time of 
a^ arriyal of Fartholanus, which with wonderful ac- 
curacy they have decided upon as having occurred in the 
.Ifi^ij^. year of the world, there were but three lakes 
ai^,tfii.Tivef& of any conseciueuce in Ulster. 

K. Digitized by GOOQIC 



]68 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTSB. 

in JO. great degree.* There are several magmBoeiit 
inlets of the sea to which the name of Lake haa 
be^n given, namely Strangford, Swilly, Foyl^. 
In Cavan, Lough Outer extends over eight milea 
in length, and on the borders of Meath is the 
beautiful Lough Sheelin. Various smaller lakes 
are scattered through the North, all possessing Jk 
rare degree of picturesque beauty. It is said, thaf 
many singular sudden births of lakes, burstiavg 
fiercely from the earth by volcanic action, have 
occurred in Ulster. More than a thousand years 
before our era, Lough Foyle broke upon the boi> 
dering countries, in an inundation from which, it 
took its name of Feval^ having carried off in its 
waves Feabhal the son of Lodin one c^ the I>a»- 
naanic chiefs. Later by two centuries Loug)i 
Erne rushing forth with the same disastrous fqry 
covered whole tracts of country ; and still laijer 
(a.d. 62) Lough Neagh buried immense plains 
swept away villages and people, and hid the mro«t 
elegant architectural remains beneath its rushing 
waters : 

'* On Lough Neagh*s banks, as the fisherman strays, '* 

Wh«n the cold calm eve's declining, t 

fie sees the Round Towers of other days ^ 
In the waves beneath him shining/* 

That these eruptions were the produce of .vol- 
canic action, may be concluded from the fact tb^ 
bi^altic rocks, which are admitted to be of volesh 
nic origin, are present on the shores of Neagh* \ 

The inland counties being thus supplied tiHlIt 
these great and beautiful sheets of water^ A^ 

• History of Armagh, p. 401 . ^ ' V 

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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 159 

Nortbero, Eastern and Western frontier is the 
Sea. Round the vast coast, from Carlingford Bay, 
whose waves wash the southern shores of Down 
even to the Erne, which is a link of connection 
between that lovely lake and the Atlantic, nume- 
rous bays, deeply indenting that ocean frontier 
line, open their arms wide to commerce. The 
eoast is irregular, running along the Ardes, the 
ancient territory of the Savadges, to the Giant's 
Causeway, that great Basaltic wall, that columnar 
barrier, vast, precipitous, sublime, placed on the 
shores of Antrim as it were to protect the island 
from the Northern seas. 

A very startling edifice of nature is the co- 
lumned greenstone promontory of Fairhead or 
Benmore, a spiral precipice 250 feet above the sea, 
which latter beats with solemn and majestic swell 
upon the huge rocks that lie in broken masses, 
fike a waste of ruins, at its feet. Near the Cause- 
way, on the crest of a brown basaltic rock stand 
the interesting ruins of Dunluce Castle. Along 
the whole liue of coast, on many a cape and 
promontory and on several of the islands, are the 
remains of abbeys and churches, which attest the 
antiquity and beauty of the ecclesiastical archi- 
tecture of ancient Ireland. 

Another grand irregularity is the peninsula of 
ftllbhoweii, where the most northern point of 
Iridland endures the waves that lashed the Arctic 
Iskig, ' Hence to the river Erne, a bold and lofty 
iimtiet meets the vast Atlantic. Nature has 
fjiteniliteeral of bulwarks to a people willing ^o 
be free. 

The soil of Ulster is intersected by many rivers 

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160 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

and streams, which though not rivalling in beauty 
the Blackwater of Munster, or the Liffej, Prin- 
cess of Irish rivers,* nor yet of the stream that 
flows between the soft and woodland banks of 
Lee, were of considerable pretension and utility, 
and all perfectly capable of being diverted to the 
purposes of internal navigation. 

The leading rivers of Ulster are the Boyle, the 
Blaekwuter, and the Bann, and though the other 
streams are generally of small extent, they nearly 
all terminate in capacious bays and loughs, f giving 
to the country the means of water communication 
and a large number of secure and spacious har«- 
hours, whilst they form an agreeable feature in 
the landscape. The Blackwater now runs through 
a highly cultivated and rich country, but at the 
time of the Plantation its banks were the rudest 
portion of the North. 

Ireland cannot be called a mountainous land^ 
the whole central portion being a vast limestone 
plain ; yet, in the south-western and the North, 
there are mountainous ridges and single moun<r 
tains, which in extent are superior, and in height 
equal to any in England, except the Welsh 
ranges. Whilst on the borders of Leinster and 
Munster, Slieve Bloom, the , Knockmel^o^Ji^ 
and the Galtees form Icmg and lofty range&.t**- 
Kerry presents the nobler hills, which include 
Within their embrace the beautifully wooded 
lak^s and sylvan solitudes of .Killarney^ In. t]ie 

• *'i^aturalPlulosQpli7 of.IrelJuid,"flect.,3, clKip.'8,,; 

t Thiewordl^ougji,^ peculiarly applied to lakes saada 

by the se*. , , , . . , . , ,-^ . 

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THE CONFISCATION OF UL8T£fi. I6l 

other quarter of Ireland, the Monme motmtains 
are a great granitic boundary to the south of 
Down, and vast ranges run through Tjrrowen, 
Donegal^ and Deny. The entire ooast of An- 
trim is mountainous in its nature^ presenting to 
the Scotch seas an iron-bound frontier of rocky 
cHffs. 

The bogs of Ulster are numerous and oxten- 
9iye> occupying much over two hundred thousand 
acres of the province. The much discussed ques- 
tion of the origin of these bogs, is fortunately not 
necessary in this place ; the probability is, how- 
ever, that the want of drainage has been the 
cause of their growth.* To a considerable ex- 

♦ ** Very few of the wet bogs in Ireland are each by 
any' natural property, or primitive constitution, but 
through the superfluous moisture that in length of time 
hath been gatfaired therehi, whether it kave its ori^nal 
within the place itself^ or become thither fr<»a without 
The drst of these two cases taketh place in the x^ost 
part of the grassy bogs, which ordinarily are occasioned 
l»y springs; the which arising in ^eat number oiit of 
■dme parcel of gronttd» and ^finding no inne, do by de- 
greesf$oak through, and bring it to tiiat rottensieBs jmd 
Bpunginesa» which nevertheless is 9ot a lit^ encrea^ed 
through the rain water coming to that of the sprinM. 
But the two other sorts, viz. the watry and hassocky 
begf, are in some place* caused by the nain water only, 
as in other thro' brooks and rivuleta running" into them, 
and in some thro' both together; whereunto many 
times also cometh the cause of the grassy bogs, to wit, 
the store of springs within the Very ground: and all 
this in places, where or through the situation of them, 
and by reason of their even plainness or hollowness, or 
tfarot^h some other imi)ediment, the water hath no free 
passage away, but remaineth within them, and so by 
degrees turneth them into bogs." — Natural History of 
Ireland, C(^(^n\o 

Digitized by VjOOy Ic 



162 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

tent, and considering the lack of coal and latterly 
of wood, they have been useful, but the proportion 
which bog bears to available land in Ulster is far 
too great. Dr. Warner made a handsome sugges- 
tion, for at once bestowing property on the Ulster 
Catholics and making some use of the bogs — 
namely, to give the ipapists a title to the latter, 
on condition of their reclaiming the undrained 
bog-land. Whatever may be their origin, or 
their utility, they are a characteristic feature in 
the Nrothem landscape. The dry bog looks fair 
and pleasant, contrasting with the green meadows 
and the picturesque knolls of Ulster scenery, but 
the watery and muddy bogs are neither very use- 
ful, nor at all a matter of ornament.* 

Ireland had been called the woody island, and 
Ulster contributed largely to that name. In the 
old day% before the Anglo Norman arrival, the 
land was full of forests.f But when the Norman 
pirates and robbers had established their settle- 
ments, they commenced in the districts "where 
they were masters to demolish the woods, for 
the purpose of increasing the amount of va- 
luable land, (though they appear for many cen- 
turies to have made scant profit of what they 
had,) and to deprive "the rogues and thieves 
who. used to lurk in the woods of their refuge 
and , their starting holes," J At the time Boate 
wrote, the woods had been, by this process of 

? Pr. Warner's "History of Ireland/' vol. 1, p. 29. 

t Boate, Nat. Hist, of Ireland, p, 66; 

J Ibid, p. 67. These rogues and thieves, we may 
presume, were the natives whom the honest men had 
deprived of their lands and their cattle. ^ t 

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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 163 

reformation, very much reduced ; the forests and 
the independence of the people went together ; 
for after Hugh O'Neill's war the quantity of 
timber had diminished, and has continued to 
decrease to such a degree that Ireland would 
probably now be characterized by the absence of 
woods. But even at the termination of the wars 
of the League,* Ulster remained well supplied 
with wood ; for example, all that highly cultivated 
district through which the Blackwater flows, was 
then a dense forest. The exigencies of building, 
resulting from the conditions of the Plantation, 
soon however destroyed, even quicker than war 
or the axe, the remaining wood ; and the lofty 
trees beneath whose canopy so many generations 
of the people of the soil had wandered, loved, 
and fought, gave shelter to their bitterest enemies, 
and strength and permanence to their Baronial 
castles. 

The evidence of the former abundance of 
timber, putting out of account the statements of 
writers, is furnished by every bog in the country. 
At Stranmore near Monallen a forest of oak, ash, 
and alder, was discovered in the last century 
lying in layers, for over a mile, and at eight feet 
depth below the surface ;t and there is scarcely 
a bog in Ireland which could not give its con- 
tribution from the buried timber of the country. 
A great want of wood is experienced in Ireland ; 
timber is never planted by the people ; and, in most 
parts of Ireland, there are no landlords either to 

. * A fit name for the confederation of the O'Donnells, 
the O'Neills, and the O'Reillys. . 

f See aatCy the extrdct from Warner's Histoig^ 



164 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

plant it themselves, or to encourage their tenaatrj 
to do it.* 

Such is the superficial appearance of Ulster, 
picturesque^ bold> and of an agreeable variety of 
I;^nd and water; with deep and extensive bays, 
^ frontier Une. of rock^bound coast; good hor- 
bowage ; fishing grounds abundant and secure ; 
large wooded lakes opening up the communica- 
tion of numerous counties, and navigable rivers 
tmversing the plains ; lofty mountains, and the 
most beautiful v&Uies. Then her bosom teems 
witb ore, minerals, and coals, the active agents 
9n4 t^0.^<ihief fituaulant of industry and skilL 

On the coast. of Antrimat Ballycas<^e,t thCTe- 

* ** If, instead of making new purchases, the gent^r 
^oifld improve the old estates by draining, and plfuiting, 
ibdhiakin^ hedge rows, and indosures with all the arts 
of -good husbandry^ (the etp«Q8e of trees and ditdhes 
being trivial, and the work performed by their own poor 
cottagers a± low wages,) this would be an advancement 
of th^ir ost?].tes perhaps to double their value." — Warner*^ 
History, vol. J, p. 49. 

■\ B^jtnsXlQ might have been a place of great oonae. 
quetic^. lU position and its manufaQturing prosperilgr 
entitled k to almost the first place as a town of export 
aad import into which theBoyds endeavoured to convert 
it. Bub the gross selfishness of what they comically caU 
** the Irish Society," a collection of London tradesmen, 
of whom we shall see something presently, successfully 
opposed and prevented this design. The pier and quay 
are now in ruins, the harbour blocked up, the collieries 
not worked, collieries which exported annually 15,000 
tons. Bvery thing speaks of Chancery and the Irish 
Society. '^Inconsequence of endeavours having been 
lately made in the Irish Parliament for making BaUy- 
castle a port, the Society exerted their utmost iifiuence, 
in conjunction ^vith the corporation of Londonderry and 
others, to prevent it ; and it was proposed by the So- 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. l65 

mains of coal-mining are visible, and of a date 
stretching further back into antiquity than the 
most credulous advocates of Irish civilization 
have ever gone, rebuking by their presence the 
apathy of more modern times. Wood, in his 
inquiry touching the primitive inhabitants of 
Ireland, says that these coal-mines were worked 
by the Danaanic colony.* At all events they 
were from an early period productive, arid em- 
ployed the people in the most valuable labour. 
In the face of which facts. Dr. Boatef has the 
.e»sy impudence to say, that the Anglo Normans 
were the first to work them ; ** the Irish, as being 
one of the most barbarous nations of the whole 
earthy having at all times been so far from seeking 
out any that even in these last years and since 
the English began to discover some, that none of 
them at all, great nor small, at any time liafh 
applied himself to that business, or in the least 

^^ety, that as the affair concerned the intercut of the 
leveral Companies of the city of L'j^tidon, the Gnveraof 
should be desired to apprijEc the Court of Lorl Miiyor 
and Aldermen of the present ^jtriation and cireuin^tftju!^ 
thereof; and it was therefore unaniiiioujily rtiT^olvud, that^ 
the Governor should make a reproaeiitation to the Coa^t 
irf Lord Mayor and Aldermen on the Hubjecrt* A me^ 
morial or representation of the Society roldting tu BuJiy- 
castle was ordered to be prcfiented by the Goven^qr tp 
the Court of Common Conncil, T^lnch wns donti Hui^tirdj^ 
ingly, and the Court of Corn mo n Gouncil comiueti'teil' 
the zeal and prudence of the S5>ciety, ng well \\i re^'tvr<t 
to<^the measures Vhich they hiul alrendy pnrsiiedj aa tlic^ 
lipplieatioii l^ey ^ere pleased to mnke to ilmt Coiij-t fljp. 
their advice and assistance Ln th<a matii*-/' — (^uucU^ 
Vuuiof the Irish Siyti'etif, p. G5. . '\'\ 

""Woba, quoted hf Moore, vol. 1» p. 20iX . 

tBo*te,p.69. ogtzedbyGoogle 



166 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

maimer farthered it" He goes on, with an ex- 
panding ignorance to assert that all the mines 
found in Ireland have been discovered by " the 
New English," that is, by those who came in 
since Elizabeth. The same explorers, he says, 
have discovered iron mines, and he thinks that 
the results of their labours have been to proVe 
that our mountains, of which Ulster he^ more 
than her share, possess wonderful metallic trea- 
sures, nay, even gold itself. In a rivulet of 
Tyrowen, called Miola, which falls into Lough 
Neagh, gold has been giU^hered of the purest 
met^;* and modern science, with a gravity that 
does not belong to ancient speculation, has sanc- 
tioned the c(mvictions of national pride, that this 
country is rich in the possession of those attrao- 
tive treasures for which man has toiled and 
fought and died in every age.*)" 

Ulster participated largely in all that made 
Ireland beautiful, wealthy, and civilized. She 
had fertility, comeliness and strength ; she was a 
well chosen victim for the passions of conquest^ a 
fit subject for the cupidity of her despoilers. 

That the success of the Plantation, this favou- 
rite project of a line of sovereigns, was a matter 
of intense interest to the English court, we can 
"well imagine. It so occurred that the division of 
thfe plunder and the conditions on which men 
held their land were not pleasing to all. The 
^Scotchman preferred the Irish tenant afid ^ 
Irish labourer to his own countryman who was 
Just as clever and as wise as himself— the Engfisk 

♦Boate, p. 70. 't.V.i ■ 

t Sir Robert Kane's Industrial Resources, p. 21 ^^ W»ed. 



T^E. CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 167 

Und^t&ker disliked the burthen of buUding » 
iiDge (]tiiadrangular castle with flanking towers 
aod imnKense ciroumaznbient wall* These dis- 
likes begat .much disobedience of the Eules and 
Orders; the castles and bawns were not bi)ilt. as it 
was int^ided ; the planted ground l^caii^^^thickly 
peopled with the natives who ii^ the plains in- 
creased as rapidly as they had in the forest and on 
the mountain side ; they obtained free admission 
into settlements from which the *' Conditions/' had 
of a fixed purpose excluded Itenpi ; they were Ijy 
degrees acquiring property and consolidatipg 
power I they were growing in th^ midst of tb,eir 
ttiemies*-a strange and alarming presence th^re* 
The colonists were not increasing in their just 
pr<^[)ortioQ ; *^ whilst," as a sorely d^appoii^^ 
tPlanter groaningly complains, ^' the natives w^ 
daily watch for the return of their young Lords 
Tyrowen and Tyrconnell,* and the ^est,no^f in 
tbm Spanish army, promising themselves a re^pof- 
jei^n of their country^ are at least four times as 
jna&y."t It was a just vengeance of nature upgn 
these dispossesBors, thus to increase the nuipb^ 
of tb» Irish, but a cause of great perplexity, and 
almrm to the English court Commissions a^^d 
Attperint^idants were appointed, inquiries direc- 
ted, and reports made ; the inveterate evil \i^ 
ceased, the whole great plan promised nothing 
but arrant failure; the fate of the Hunster 
planters was remembered, and the doom of th^t 

I 
j ,1 Xb^Q were the descendants of the Eaxls, who ha(l 
gone into foreign service^ and who \^th their descendants 
have since been amongst the most distinguished soldiers 
and statesmen in Europe. 
f letter of Sir Thoma* Smith to the King, p. 245. 



168 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

great settlement was freely predicted for the 
Ulster Plantation. 

Amongst the nmnber of inquirers who visited 
Ulster to point out the evils and to specify reme- 
dies, was Nicholas Pynnar; and fortunately for 
the history of the plantation and for a better 
comprehension of the habits and social arrange- 
ments of the day, his report has fully survived 
for our great edification. He was preceded by 
others who have left no memorials or valueless 
ones of their labours, and it is from him that we 
are principally to learn the prospects of the 
Plantation at a period when it had a fair triaL 
He prosecuted his inquiry during four months at 
the latter end of 1618 and the beginning of 1619- 
Not so garrulous as Sir John Davies, he has told 
us nothing of the manner in which be executed 
his " survey.'* Neither is the survey itself very 
full or explanatory, but it contains notices of 
men and things which are pleasantly quaint, and 
his brief sketches of the dwellings and habits of 
those who occupied the planted ground, are 
illustrative and informing. I have arranged this 
survey in an intelligible form, and have attached 
notes containing much of what Pynnar saw du- 
ring his inquiry. I have from the Inquisition 
Book and the Patent Rolls of James and Charles, 
added the names of the attainted parties and the 
original patentees to his list of the occupiers in 
1619, so that in one view the reader is presented 
with the history of the Plantation and the order 
estubllslied in Ulster by this remarkable revolu- 
tion.* As for Pynnar, he never mentions any of 

* In manj instances these records gai^ but meagre 

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THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 169 

the former possessors ; he is as silent on th^ 
iubject as if an O'Neill had never caroused in the 
castle of Dungannon, or an O'Donnell fought on 
the plains of DonegaL 

The changes of proprietorship are very nume- 
rous, the original patentees having in a majority 
of instances cither parted with their interest 
entirely, or set to tenants with very long leases. 
No ^doubt these patentees — soldiers of for* 
tune, captains, useful officials, cutters and stab- 
bers, dowagers and jointresses, and demireps 
of the court — ^merely grasped the lands of Ulster 
to make a good traffic by their sale ; hence we 
shall find in the following list repeated transfer- 
ence of the denominations from one to another, 
imd a varying proprietorship which must have 
been very fatal to the quick success of the 
plantation. There is another set of circumstan- 
ces on which I regret not to have been able to 
throw any light. There are some Irish secondary 
chiefs who were attainted, but on submission re- 
stored, and others who got back their own lands for 
fk valuable consideration of base treachery towards 
tbeir fellows ; and I am not able, from the material 
I h^dyto discriminate between these with sufficient 
IMscuracy. 

The historic interest of the Plantation ceases 
lit the time of Pynnar^s survey ; a new order 
of jbbings was then established, and a new pro* 

iB^matioD. If we had a goremmeat in Ir^and, i^ 
theae puUic doouments would be arraaged. edited, aad 
iUustrsted with notes. But they are not tigreeMd learn- 
ing for Englishmen. 

■w Digitized by VjOOQIC 



170 TtfE CONFISCATION OF tJLSTSR. 

inriatary; new relations sprung up whiclx will 
be found producing their effect in the subsequent 
war of '41 and thence even to the present day. 
The following table, which yet I must ac* 
knowledge is very imperfect^ is compiled fiKun 
** Pynnai^s Survey," the book of Inquisitions in 
the reigns of James L and Charles L from the 
Patent Rolls in the same reigns, compiled in 
barbarous contracted Latin and entirely tinin- 
dexed — and from some other obscure and most 
unattractive sources. And it will be permitted 
to me here again to exclaim against the penury 
and the other mean and disgraceful influences, 
which have induced the English Government 
practically to put their seal on the fountains of our 
history, by consigning to a most scandalous 
obscurity, the records and state papers of our 
country, these great and honest witnesses of 
dealings between us and them from the beginning* 
There are men enough in Ireland, who would 
gladly and gratuitously devote their titne and 
intelligence to the arrangement and editing of 
these invaluable but now motddering docuinents, 
to select those of great and public interest and 
worthy oi publication, and to r^eot whatever ia 
worthleoiB. Even the pdnoiple of order itsdf 
should induce these English to opea-our own 
purse-strings, and to remove thQ chaos which at 
present exists in the department of the pubBe 
deeds and records. It is to be hoped that some 
exertion will be made to effect this object, aad 
to stimulate the selfish and ignorant apathy of 
the Grovernment. 

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Ta« CONFISCATION OF UI.8TEK. 



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196 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

In the preceding table, the greatest gainer by 
the Ul^r Plantation appears only in connection 
with one grant ; but Sir Jirthur CUcbester, the 
founder of the Donegal family, deserves a 
separate and peculiar menti<Hiv« He was a greedy 
Puritan, b«nt upon extinguishing the Catholics of 
Ireland, and of accumulating an enormous £t>rttme 
by their plunder. In the latter design he ivtis 
very successful On the aOth SMn% 160% Jam^ 
wrote to him, ^ That having iqpproved otm, fteo- 
ject for distributing of At* lands (namely, y» six 
counties) in Ulster^ which he was resolved Hot to 
alter in point of substance for favour or merit q^' 
any particular person, yet having c<waidei»tion 
for his extraordinary desert^ his majesty ^wae 
pleased to grapt him and his heirs and assigns 
the entire territory or country of InUhowen^^' 
with Colmore Oastie fw life* Attached |«o tUs 
magnibScent grant, was a powca* Uf hiM fow: 
Court? Leet in the island of Incbe, the territories 
of Tuoghconcrine, Xuagh Clagb, the maiior of 
Greencastle) and the island of Malin* Yarious 
privileges of tolls, markets, and fairs wea^ added 
On the l4th January, 1610, he had a gfanrof the 
Castle of Dungannoii and }3Q0 acre^ of land 
escheated within its pteeinot» He bu^U a pl^laoe at 
Carrickfergus, which he ealled Joymounl^ from 
his friend and patron, the politic, trarifi^,' attd 
sentimental Moimtjoy«* 

Whatever was the oiaginal design of the Plan- 
tation, and whatever was its polic^y it is ekar ^lat 

* They say that Charles BlouBt, Lcnrd Mounljoy, died 
of love. It was a whimsical end lor so profound a poli- 
tician and 80 bloody a soldier. n^^^]^ 

" -Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



THE CONFISCATION OP tJLSTER. 197 

there was no banishment of the natives firom the 
soil of Ulster; the " Swordsmen,"* in other words 

*11ie swordsmen were gallowglasses and kernes. 
The gaUofWglMs wore a ddfensive ooat studded with 
iron nails, a long aword was appended to his side, an iron 
head-piece secured his head, and in his hand he grasped 
a broad keen-edged battle axe. Another description of 
swordsmen were the kernes. Th6se combatants foug^ 
with swords, skeain, and ja^eUns 1k) which thcoigs were 

^tested. Sgean (whence skean) means a sword." 

SUwart's Armagh, p. 634, App. The introduction of 
defensive armour was modern. The following passage 
from Spenser, in his ** View of the State of Ireland," 
endeavouring to prove the Scythian ctescent of the 
]^h, gives a good account of the more ancient wea- 
^ns — ** And first of their armes and weapons, amongst 
which their broad swordes are proper Scythian, for such 
the Scythes used commonly, as you may read in Olaus 
Magnus. And the same also the kM Scots used, as you 
mmy read in Buchanan, and in Solinus, where tJie pictures 
XkS Uiem are in the same forme expressed. Also their short 
bowes, and little g^uivers with short bearded arrowes, are 
Very Scythian, as you may reade in the same Olaus. 
AAd the same sort both of bowes, quivers, and arrowes, 
aid dijts day to bee seene commonly amongst the Northerne 
Iris^l^ts, whose Scottish bowes are not past three 
Quarters of a yard long, with a string of wreathed hempe 
siacklly bent, and whose arrowes are not much above 
halfb an ell long, tipped with Steele heads* made like 
itommon broad arrow heades, but much more sharpe and 
slender, that they enter into a man or horse most cruelly, 
notwithstanding that they are shot forth weakely . Besides, 
the\r confused kinde of march in heapes, without any 
6i6et or array, their clashing of swords together/ 4;heir 
fierce running upon tioieir enemies, and the& mumer of 
fight, resembleth altogether that which is read in 
histories to have beene used of the Scythians. By 
wMch it may almost infallibly be gathered togetiier, 
with other circumstances, that the Irish are very Scots 
or Scythes originally, though sithence intermingled with 
many other nations repairing and joyning unto them/ — 



19S THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTfit. 

the men able and accustonied to cariy arm$, 
were not sent to Connaught; nor were tbej 
excluded from the Plantation, with a purpose to 
root them out, as all the Irish nations had been 
rooted out, from the first Anglo Norman settle^ 
ments; they were merely removed from the 
mountains and the woods to the plains and opea 
country, that being removed ** they might grow 
the milder, and bear a better and sweeter fruit." * 
Sir John Davies, in one of those admiratble 
essays which, whatever we may l^nk of theif 
morality, are amongst the most useful matenaJU 
of Irish history, has given us a graphic acoQunt 

There is a very singular mention of the sgean or skean 
in Cartyle'8 ** Speeches and Letters of Cromwell.*' Cte 
the retreat from the fatal field of Naseby, '* t^ere ireh 
taken a good few ladies of quality in carnages, and 
above a hundred Iri^ ladies not of quaUty, tottery 
Q^mp-CoUowers wit^ long skeau knives about a /oot in 
length ff^ch they well knew how to use ; upon whom 
I fear the ordinance against the iPapists pressed ^^ar& 
this day." Vol. 1, p. 214. In other words, the pioQf 
Parliano^ntaifians and cut^throat rebels, abo^it whom 
Mt. Cbriyle has written his eloquent Book of Sainte, 
hanged these women, and then gave thanks to the Lord 
for flie crowing mercy. But it is not astonislung that 
these English killed a few hundred wom&a» mer# 
camp-ft^owers, for anotiier writer tell U9 that t)W 
bwcbariai^s slew several of the wives of offlicers oT 
quality.— -iSfott^A«v*« Life of Cromwell, p. 41 ; Clarend&tr$ 
Civil Wars, Oxford ed. 1839, vol. 5, p. 176. Th<^ 
saints of Carlyle had certainly all theWisdom of i^ 
set^nt, but they had the ierocity of the tiger. !]f|^ 
wece. a biasphemous rabble rout, which no Cr^rman 
€ostati<» will ever turn to things admirable. , ^* ' 

•SirJohnDavies's** Hist. Tracts,** p. 119. Surd^cd^^fc^ 
got some pretty grants in the business says* in jlil^i j>ious 
^ftilness of his heart, but rather profanely, **Qmnis 
plantatlo quam non plantavit Fater mens, eradicabitur.*' 



TttB CONFI8CATIOI? Or UIiSTli^R. IgQ 

of the great settlement.* He aud Sir Oliver 
Lambert were the principal agents in efifecting 
the division of the escheated lands, which they 
accomplished in a *' perambulation" made through 
the North, with the Lord Deputy and the oth^ 
Commissioners of Plantation, and the account of 
which Sir John communicated to his constant 
friend and patron, Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, 
in 1610, 

They had four principal points to dispose of ; 
First, to assign the portions which were apportion- 
ed to the natives according to the qualities of the 
knds, and the deserts of the favoured parties; 
Second, to distribute and apportion the lands set 
apjirt for the servitors ; Third, to publish by pro- 
clamation in each county the lands which were 
^ven to the English and Scotch Undertakers, to 
Uie servitors, and to the natives, that the latter 
should remove from the precints allotted to the 
English and Scotch^ wherupon a clear Planta- 
tion was to be made of JSnglish and Scottish- 
men without any Irish^ and to settle upon the 
Jands assigned to servitors and natives^ where a 
mi^ed Plantation of English, Scotch, and Irish was 
to be made 5 and Fourth, to give seizin f of their 
allotted shares to the British Undertakers, wlio 
had flocked in numbers to the scene of partiticm. 
AU theOQ duties they discharged, not without 
opposition from the people who were to be so 
uncere^flonious lv t hrust aside by the hungry tribe 
of Stewart^ Wingfields, Folliots, Hamiltons, 
Kintoelfi, Smelbomes, Adwicks, Chichesters, ^nd 

* Letter to Robert Eiurl ^ Salisbuiy concerning tbe 
state of Ireland, 1610. 
I A barbarous law word, signifying possession. 



200 THE CONFISCATION OP ULSTtiR. 

Butlers, who were there awaiting the tmhofy 
distribution. 

For it appears that in Cavan, Where the natir^s 
were near the Pale, and familiar, after a fashion, 
WS& points of law and incidents of titJb^ they 
made a bold straggle to preserve their lands, and 
appealed diiiectly to that perfidious piomise^-H.8e 
often made, so often broken — ^thattheyshonld shace 
the b^iefits of English lair. They bad leaimed 
to talk of a freehold and of estates of inheritaBee, 
(dangerous study for the " despairing Irishes,") 
of which the bold Clansmen of Tyrconnell and 
Tyrowen, secure as they thought themsehres m 
their hills and their vallies, their mountains and 
their riyer-^sides, were proudly ignorant; and 
these poor Cavan lovers of justice had hired' a 
lawyer of the Pale, to maintain, that th^ bad 
estates of inheritance in their possession^ wkifsk 
their chiefs could not forfeit Doubtless muofc 
sound law did this Solon of the Pale discoorse, 
eloquent on tails, tail males, fee tails, and talk 
in remainder, and all the other jargtm of Kot- 
man jurisprudence. He demanded to trttveim 
the odice which had l)een found of his elientb 
land-s and he claimed the benefit of that prodb- 
mation in which the base Stuart promised to 
take the persons, estates and goods of his Iri^ 
subjects into his protection. But of what ianajl 
was all the argument? Robbery was its.oiMi 
judge. Lambert and Daviea and Ghichester^.tbe 
Commissioners of Partition, and the rest of theiti, 
who had their deeds of grant in their pockets ; 
English lawyers, the scourings of the Inris* of 
"^fiddle and Inner Temple; grasping spectdators; 



THK CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 201 

soldiers of fortune, were to try a title as old ns 
tbe Island itself: is it sorprising Uiat even the 
lawyer of the Pale* could do nothing for tbe 
dsnsiDeii of O'Reilly ? 

8ir John Davies, poet^ philosopher^ aitor- 
ney^genaraly adroit and svf^pb courtier^ casuist 
without eonsefienoe or honor, imdetta^er, and 
servitor^ osplied. And his TOply is a marvel- 
loos ^ecimen of the Ic^io of an Mtomey^gen- 
erid* He was rejoiced, good man, that oeca«ki« 
ofieved of declaring and setting forth his Mi^sty's 
-most jast title, as well for his Majesty's hooor, 
wtR> being tbe most just prince living, would 
»ot oppress the meanest of his s«tbjects wrong- 
liolly, to gain many such kingdoms, a$ for the 
$aUsf€ieti&n of the natives themselves and of 
all tbe world. 

His Majesty had a threefold title, and a 
nght to dispose of the lands, ^Mn law, con* 
seience, and in honor." In law, he had a light, 
^^^icrther considering* the matter with reference to 
€bi^ Bnglish kw or the old Bitehon jurisprudence. 
Fe^) hy the former, the sovereign is Lord Para^ 
jBoiinet of all land^ of all tbe land in the kingdom, 
atub all his subjects hold their possessiions of 
him, mediate or immediate. That the captainship 
M O'Reilly bdng abolished, and the two chief 
lorJs elected by the country dain in rebellion, 
the^kiiig was entitled to enter upon their lands, 
without reference to the estates which the clans- 
-iiieoimtght have had« For of what nature could 
tbeae estates ha^e been ? Either estates of in- 

• I have not beea able to diooover tiie name of th« 
advocate of tLe O'Reillyfl. ^ 



202 THE CONFlbCATlUX Of ULSTER* 

beritance, or estates not of inheritance. An estate 
not of inheritance they did not claim, or if ihej 
did, they should show the creation thereof^ which 
they could not do ; and if they claimed an eatate 
of inheritance, then estates ought to descend to a 
certain heir, which neither their cheiftainshipa^ 
nor their tenancies ever did. Therefore they 
had no estates of inheritance. The estate of their 
Tanists and Chieftains fiath been adjudged (that ia, 
good Sir John, by rascal lawyers who wanted to 
rob both) to be no estate in law, but only a tran- 
sitory and " scambling possession." They never 
did, he continued to argue, conceive that their 
lawful heirs should inherit the land they possesied, 
which was manifest by two things ; 1st, they 
never esteemed lawful matrimony,* to the end 
that they might have lawful heirs ; and 2nd, they 
never aid build any houses, plant orchards, or 
gardens, nor take any care of their posterity. It 
followed that, if these men had estates in law, 
either in their chieftainships or in their tenaw^es, 
if his majesty who was Lord Paramount did 
seize uppa' and dispose of their lands, they could 
make no title against him or his patentees and 
consequently could not be admitted to traverse 
any office of their lands. . 

Much more to this effect, did the king's, attor- 
ney speak to the astonished natives; muchnE^u^e.of 
such perfidious technical rhodomonta^,^ well 
enough for the purlieus of Westminister ,0{^ the 
bagnios of the Temple, or the corrupter atm^s- 

* This was only a repetitiom of the base lie o£.€am- 
brensip, and the other slanderers. The Irish did many, 
sometimes in the older time with some informality—but 
they always contracted marriage and were faithfiU. 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 203 

phere of the chief city of the Pale, but mar- 
vellous'to the meer Irish of the hill sides of 
Brefney. What then said he of the ancient 
law he came to root out, and in its stead to 
substitute "civility"? Was there no code of 
Brehon, no chieftaincy, no gavelkind ? Surren- 
dering these, were these Cavan men not promisiefl, 
on the perfumed sacred word of Royalty, that 
they should hold their hill sides without let, nnd 
free ? Yes ; there was then one scruple to hinder 
James in this enterprize, viz.: whether the king 
might in conscience or honor remdve the an- 
cient tenants, and bring in strangers am on gat 
them? 

What said the mercenary knave ? Why, truly 
that his majesty might not only take this course 
lawfully, but was bound in conscience so to do. 
Ah I immemorial unconverted spirit of Englidi 
law, thou perfection of human reason, thou con- 
summation of human goodness, was there ever 
wrong thou wj)uldst not consecratej or right tho^i 
cotildst not take away ? * 

The King is Father of his people, said Sir Jo^n, 
and the people arid the land are committe'd: by the 
Divine Majesty to his charge and govenjnxent. 
He is therefore bound in conscience to use alllaw- 
ful and just courses to reduce his people ifrom 
barbarism to civility. Now civility could not be 
planted amongst them without a mixed plantation 
of civil men, which could not be effected without 
transplantation and removal of some of the natives, 
and settling Aieir possessions in the course of the 
common law! For if they were allowed to 
occupy the country as their septs have/or many 

Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



204 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

hundred yeari — aj^ till curst Normdn avarice 
brought their mailed beggars here-^-^hey would 
never, to the end of the world, build houses, make 
townships, or manure or improve the land as it 
Ought to be; therefore it standi not with cbridtias 
policy, nor conscience to let so good and fruitful 
a country to be waste like a wilderness, when hkr 
majesty may lawfully dispose of it to such perioitf 
as will make a civil Plantation thereupon.* 

And so argued the Roman planting his ensigns 
on the shores of Britain ; so argued the fanatid 
Isabella driving the Arab from the fields of 
Spain ; so argued the bloody Cortes and the 
insatiable Fizarro as they gave a million Indians 
to their sword and cross ; so argue even now the 
perfidious Frenchman in his razzias and bis man- 
burnings — ^human enli^htenmtiDt demands its 
victims — ^the march of civilbation has bee a too 
often upon the crashed hearts, and plunderefl 
rights of man. ^<' James, in this great misdeed, 
transplanted like a father not lij^e a Lord or 
Monarch j" so says Sir John Davies. '* The Ro- 
mans trani^lanted whole nations out of Germany 
into France — ^th« Spaniards lat^^l^r | removed 
all the Moors out of Granada into Earbary, 
without providing them with new aeata there. 
Wh*n the English Pale was settled thf native.^ 
were all clearly expelledj and the GrsexL^eg were 
removed then from Sc<itland to Ireland without 



• Sir Jobft Davies's Letter to the 'Esa^ of ' SaUii|»/, 

i^^ted 14^1 
>H8h race i; 

d by Google 



t ^^ Conquest of Oreaada was Afi^ted Hit ? ^MlUtJ 
the SecoM exteriflinated the Moorish race in Spain 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 205 

a foot of land being allotted to them ; but these 
natives of Cavan had lands assigned them usually 
in the same barony where they lived before, so 
that in this his Majesty did imitate the skilful 
husbandman who doth remove his fruit trees, not 
with a purpose to extirpate and destroy them, but 
that they might bring better and sweeter fruit 
after ;the transplantation." * 

"With these courtly reasonings and this lawyer 
logic the natives were " not unsatisfied in reason, 
though they remained in their passions discon- 
tented, being much grieved to leave their posses- 
sions to strangers which they had so long after 
their manner enjoyed." But the Lord Deputy 
mingled threats with entreaty ; precibusque 
minas regaliter addit ; and the poor natives 
gave way " like obedient and loyal subjects," to 
the Sheriff and the warrant of the Commissioners. 
And so commenced this foul crusade. The peo- 
ple of Ulster had looked to Cavan expectingly, 
trusting with trembling confidence to right and 
law ; but setliig tilings so managed there^ they 
were broken to their fate, and with silent despair 
submitted to the course prescribed by James for 
the Plantation. The lands were divided — and 
proclamation duly made — the Undertakers pre- 
pared the materials for their Castles and their 
Bawns — ^the serritors took out their letters pa- 
tent with hot haste — the hapless owners of the 
soil moved from their ancient homes — ^the agents 
of 'the incomparable city of London piled their 
timber, their 'iime and stones, their iron and their 

* Sir John Davies to Salisbury, p. ^^^gj^ 



206 tHE CONFIBCATlCfN OP tJLSTER. 

other mateHals for their new city, and so busy 
were the workmen there and elsewhere ab6nt 
their several tasks as ^ methought I saw Dido's 
colony erecting Carthage," * 

Instant ardentei Tyrii, pars dueere mxaoa 
Moliriqiie arcem, et muuibus subyolvBre saxa 
Pars optare locum tecto, et conchidere sulco. 

And now look at this Ulster before and after 
the Plantation. But first put away the original 
wrong from your thought — for a moment cease to 
think of aU the crimes, all the deep iiyury, aQ 
the wondrous injustice^ all the original sin of this 
mighty change, then thoughtfully mark the con- 
trast. Before the Plantation — before Hugh 
O'Neill had hidden his great defeat and greater 
sorrows beneath an English coronet — ^from these 
Forests issued, and roamed ov^r these Plains, a 
Free People, ruled by their own rude laws and 
institutions, adoring at their own altars, assem- 
bling round their own hearths, speaking the lan^ 
guage racy of their soil and of their soids, loving, 
tender, vengeful, fierce, after the fashion their 
mother's milk had given them, — a people of the 
Land, her children, like tbe oaks they dwelt 
amongst, bursting from her bosom like the streams 
upon whose banks they fought and loved, and 
lived and died. They were rough and untutored; 
their laws which yet suited fhem were not as 
wise as human wisdom might devise ; they tilled 
their lands rudely, yea, even with the tails of 
their beasts they yoked ^eir ploughs ; over fhear 
wide and green pastures roved their flocks, un- 

♦ Sir John. t7^i|^Qoog|^ 



XBJ^ COinCISCAXION OF ULSTI^B. 207 

branded, the wandering wealth of pastoral clans ; 
fierce in fight, sensual and amorous, wild in mirth 
and gentle in love, a bold, brave race, they pos- 
sessed the soil God gave their fathers; they 
worked out in triiuiph or defeat the ends of hu- 
man civilization, working unskilfully but with 
sfome progression^ when this great Plantation met 
them in their way. Gradually but fearfijlly it 
came on with projects, plans, and laws, and argu- 
ments most eloquent of dispossessioii. The rich 
plains over which their fathers wandered, the fer- 
^ vailie« wh^re their fathers dwelt in many a 
rijde ftucestral village^ the river sides of plea- 
siuit Derry» and the bold headlands of moun- 
tainous Donegal, all were swept away by gra- 
cious writ^ by Ki'^g's command, by projects oif 
Plantation, by iaquisiticm, by forfeitures, and by 
esche9its« wordf dimly understood of fearful im- 
jfGfU They j:etire before the tide, and now a 
new race succeeds, the spawn of bloody conquest. 
Gft every sidje arise the well flanked castle, with 
frowning tower and threatening battlement ; the 
mighty forest re-echoes with tne ceaseless axe ; 
the sounds of bu^ labour are heard " from mom 
till dewy eve ;** towns and cities, fortresses and 
factories, are seen lifting their heads aloft; the 
whole face of [(Mature and of things is chsiiiged. 
All aoosknt .Qivilkatioiv ancient laws, ^nd ancient 
Faitb are swept away; new forms of Ufe, new 
codes, new habits, and new men are planted in 
thataocient 3oil io bear what fruit they may. 

y^Mi^ii be £mii.of pedc^ iwd honour to this 
cK^aeted la»d1 

Digitized by VjOOQ IC 



208 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 



CHAPTER VII. 

How it happened that the Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, 
Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, Skinners, Merchant Ttd^- 
lors. Haberdashers, Salters, Ironmongers, Vintners, 
and Clothworkers of London became Irish Landlords 
— The Irish Society — The creation of Baronets. 

Derby was so called from Doire, an Irish word 
si^ifying "the place of oaks." It was also 
called Derry Calgach, **the oak-wood of Cal- 
gach," who, they say, is classicized by the pen 
of Tacitus into Gralgacus. It was also known 
as " Derry ColumbkUle," from the saint's name 
who founded an abbey there. The distinctiye 
epithets were afterwards thrown aside, and for a 
while it bore its own simple name, until a new 
and more monstrous transformation conyerted it 
into Londonderry,* 

How this came to pass, and how, on the an- 
cient Hill of Oaks, sacred to Pagan superstition 

* Yet there is some propriety in the name, for London, 
like Derry, is traceable to a Celtic or rather a Scythic 
origin, and seems as correctly to describe the modem 
Derry as Doirerdid the ancient. London is by some in- 
terpreted as "the town of ships," or the "fortified 
town," but the Celtic compound which means a " strong 
fortress," (iMnn-dun,) is the true origin ai the name. 
Any of these deriyations will suit the present Deny ; 
and it is singular that a little way up the riyer is an 
ancient fortress with a similar name, (Dun-na^long) 
** the fortress of ships." — Ordnance Memoir, p. 17. 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 209 

and Christian holiness, a new order of lay monks 
founded their establishments, their temples, and 
their priesthood, we are now to be informed. 

After many revolutions undergone through the 
course of lawless ages, at various times guarded 
with anxious care and saintly piety, ravaged by 
the wrath of fierce chiefs and clans, plundered 
by English freebooters and Norman cutthroats, 
burned by the savage Dane, and re- erected by 
Celtic devotion, Derry owed its restoration to that 
valiant and bloody soldier, Sir Henry Dowcra. 
On the hill of Derry, " which in troubled times 
was selected as the Acropolis of the North,"* 
Dowcra re-erected the town and laid the foun- 
dation of its importance. 

On the 16th of April, 1600, with a large fleet 
and 4,200 men he entered the historic waters of 
Lough Foyle, and effected a landing at the Fort 
of Culmore. The Kinel-Connell and the Kinel- 
Owen were fighting their last great fight, and by 
the profound policy of Mountjoy victory had been 
snatched from their grasp. He met but little re- 
sistance. He erected strong works at Culmore 
and on the Derry ; ramparts and strong walls of 
earth, large houses of lime and stone, and " a city 
on the erection of which much time and labour 
were bestowed." f ^ He flung down the monas- 
tery, the cathedral, > and all the other religious 

* " Ordnance Survey of Derry,** p. 17. This admirable 
piece of history and natural philosophy cannot' be suffi- 
ciently praised. -!]^|ty that government would not win 
some popularity by publishing all the local histories of 
all Ireland in a similar way. 

f ** Annals of the Four Masters, "D4u^»t»y(LB0Qigle 



210 TUS CONPISCATIOir OP ULSTBB. 

baildings, profiw^ to convert their materiaU to 
the uses of his forts and towers.* Strong garri- 
80D8 were placed in Derry, which, howeVciv were 
remored at the termination of the war in 1603, 
100 horse and 160 foot under Dowcra, and 200 
foot under Captain Richard Hansard, odIj being 
left to ke^ the place. IHmng three years l^r 
Henry, who had been created Governor, laboored 
incessantiy to lay, wide and sure, the foundations 
of a great commercial town. He prdeur^ seye- 
ral grants and patents for holding markets and 
for the enjoyment of many valuable liberties and 
privikgee.t And he hinis^ reaped for his ser- 
vices an abundant crop of honours and rewards ; 
bat in 1604, for certain inadequate conmderatidns, 
he sold to George Pawlet of Hunpshire, nauch 
to the said George's subsequent dise(»nfiture, his 
house and land and company of foot, and halving 
appointed him Vice-Provost of ** the Derrie,** he 
returned to England, and nev^ resumed the go- 
vernment of the city, greatly to his own advan- 
tage and security. Sir George Pawlet had little 
time to follow up the wise designs of Dowera. 
He was a rough and brutal soldier, and having 
insulted Sir Cahir CDogherty, the chief of Ibis- 
howen, by coarse language and personid chosiye- 
ment, he drove that young and valiant lord into 
" rebellion." O'Do^ertv took thd fort Of Otol- 
more, it is said, by treachery, and Derry ibyjsar- 

♦ The ** Ordnance Memoir*' modifies the fiftatemAt. 
It says that Dowera only made ust of the materiala oC 
the cathedral, it being in ruins.-^Page 18, . , , >( 

t The charters are given in the ** Ordna^e Memoir," 

P- 39. Digitized by Google 



THE CONFISCATION OF UL8TKK. 2ll 

prise, put Sir George, his lieutenant, and garrison 
to the sword, plundered the infant city, and re- 
duced it to ashes. But a *' fortunate shot in the 
head" terminated the career of Sir Cahir on the 
18th July, 1608, and smoothed the way for the 
general Plantation, whose plans and prq^ects had 
he&Ok already fuUy difloussed, and whose fruits had 
already be^ devoured in anticipation bj the 
tribes of Undertakers^ Servitors, and other " hun- 
gry vultures," that awaited the pactition of 
Ulster. 

And now it was that eomm^cial and trading 
enterprize effected what the wisdom of Dowcra 
had commenced, and the vengeance of (^Dogh- 
ert}' so sadly interrupted. A new class of laa4- 
lords, rich and grasping as the burghers of Ghent 
and Bruges, were planted on the ancient Hill of 
Oaks, and henceforth swayed Arachty with a 
foreign, unparental rule. 

When the commission, issued by the. crown to 
Chichester and the rest of the escheatora, had 
returned their findings, duly giving six counties 
to James, that wise King conceiving that the 
city of London was the fittest body he could 
select, to eSect a great Plantation in the North of 
IreUind, directed Robert Cecil to communicate with 
Sir Charles Edmonds, the city Bemembrancer, 
desiring him to acquaint the Lord Mayor (who 
wiis Humphrey Weld), that the Earl wished a 
conference on the subject of the Ulster lands. 
A coBferenc3 was had, and the propositions 
which I hi ve already given, were made by the 
King to ihj City. These propositions were 
called " Motives and Reasons to induce the City 



212 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

of London to undertake the Plantation in the 
No?th of Ireland," and they certainly were of a 
nature likely to attract tl» burgesses oi a city, 
already distinguished for the keen pursuit of gain. 
The paper gave a glowing picture of Ulster, of 
its natural wealth and its great capacity for trade 
and commerce. It represented- a country well 
watered, abundantly stored with every necessary, 
rich in its fattening pastures, and abundant in its 
promise of " butter, cheese, hides, and tallow ;" 
with good harbours, plentiful ocean fishery, much 
train oil and fish oil, ready to reward the hands 
of industry — altogether it painted such prospects 
as could not well be resisted by the thrifty tailors, 
cloth worfLcrs and mercers, of the incomparable 
city of London. The country was broken to 
their hands — the mailed Barons, Knights, and 
soldiers had done their work, '^ braying the people 
as in a mortar" — and now the peaceful invaders, 
hungry and thick as the pests of Egypt, might 
spread themselves over the face of the land. 

In a few days when these " Motives and Rea- 
sons" had time to sink into the hearts of the men 
of trade, the Corporation, and the Lords of the 
Privy Council came to an understanding — ^but 
with caution on the part of the burghers. They 
expressed their willingness to go on with the 
Plantation, if the King's representations of the 
feasibility and advantage of a London colony, 
were found by discreet commissioners of them 
to be correct. Upon which they despatched four 
worthy citizens, John Broad, Goldsmith ; Robert 
Tresswell, Painter Stainer; John Rowley, 
Drapier ; and John Munns, Merc^tj^li depu- 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 213 

tation to inqaire into and report upon the state 
of the county of Coleraine, and the propriety of 
the City of London taking part in its new co- 
lonization. They set out upon this grave mission, 
not without tears from weeping wives and friends, 
into the fastnesses and amidst the savages of the 
knd of O'Neill and (yDonnell; and having boldly 
and wisely discharged their missionary duty, pre- 
sented their report to the Court of Common 
CouncQ.* The report was read, and we may 
presume, it confirmed the king's eulogies ; for 
the Common Council appointed a committee to 
transact business with the Privy Council, and 
prescribed the times and place at Guildhall for 
their meeting. Would that there remained any 
true memorial of these meetings! It would 
be a study to hearken to those^ business-like 
robbers, gilding over with solemn plausibilities 
the schemes of iniquity they were planning — 
mourning over the "incivilitie" and barbarism 
of the natives, philanthropically devising refor- 
mation, magnifying the wise and munificent spirit 
of English trade, and dealing with all the other 
ingenious lies which craft and cupidity use to 
conceal their viUany. But, there are no records 
left save a few formal entries in the town-books, 
from which we must draw our - own inferences, 
dry entries, but significant enough. 

* We are told in that very stupid compilation, ** The 
CJoncise View of the Irish Society," that such a report was 
presented ; but the report itself is not given, though it 
would be most interesting, nor does it give a single par- 
ticular about the mission of these four pioneers of *• ci- 
vility." 



214 TIIE CONFISCATION OP tJLStElt. 

The committee sat at GuiMh^H, and made 
their report to the common council, on the va- 
rious conditions which they should require firom 
the King, expressing their opinion in favour of 
the establishment of a company in London for 
the administration of the affairs of the 'Platitft- 
tion, andT of the foundation of corporations in 
D^rry and CJoleraine subject to the direction of 
the central company. And this was the germ of 
the " Irish Society," which for more than two 
centuries has enjoyed the rents and revenues of 
an ehtirte Irish county; a. company of foreign 
traders, having no kind of ^connection with Ire- 
land, and yet swallowing an enormous rental 
dragged out of the -vitals of the poorest country, 
to be expended in the richest city of Europe, 
The Irisb' Society is a type and symbolical repre- 
sentation of English rule in Ireland from the be- 
ginning. 

The report was approved and presented to 
the privy council, and after some further con- 
ference articles of agreement were arranged 
(1S8th January, 1609,) between the* privy tjonndl 
on the King's part, and the cotottittee of the city 
on the part of the mayor and cotnmonaity of 
London. Thus the King's san^ine wish was 
about to be fiilfiHed, the citizens had consented to 
take in hands the Plantation of Deiry, land he was 
sensible, that " when his enemies should hear 
thht thd famous City of London had a footing 
therein (in Ulster), they would be terrified iH)tn 
looking into Ireland, the bach door of England 
and Scotland^ * Digitized by Google 

* Letter of Sir Thomas Phillips. 



THE CONFISCATiaN OF UI<ST£E. 21^ 

The condidons on the part of thd Londoners 
were: — 

The City agreed to levy £20,000, £15,000 to 
be expended in clearing away private men's in- 
terests; to build a certain number of houses, 
leaving room for more, and that 4»000 acres 
should be allocated to ihe city.* That the rest 
of the County of Derry, estimated at 12,000 
acres, should be cleared from private men's in^ 
terests; that the timber of certain woods shonld 
be devoted to the furtherance of the Plantation, 
and not made merchandiae. The articles pro- 
vide for the City's having the presentation to 
churches; for the monopoly of sea and river 
fisheries; for the customs, poundage, tonnage, 
and great and small customs; for the enjoyment 
by tlie twelve trades of the office of Admiralty f 
along the coasts of Tyrconnell and Coleraine, 
and the salvage of all their own .vessels wrecked 
at sea, in Ballycastle and Oderfleete, and in all 
tbe coasts, ports, and creeks, A number of 
other provisions protect the interests of the 
Society and the City, stringent and comprehen- 
sive enough. It was amongst the rest settled 
that CuhoQore Fort, which Sir Arthur Chichester 
had resigned to James, should be given to the 
City» and the land appertaining, provided .they 
maintained a sufficient force. 

1 These acres bred a aerioiis controversy between the 
Corporation of Derry and the Irish Society, which co»: 
tinues I believe to the present moment, and in wtiicn 
the Irish Corporation has manifestly the advantage 'of 
the Anglo-Irish Society. 

f A strange honour for the Drapers, &c. &c. 



216 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

One part of these Articles was signed by Lord 
EUesmere (Lord Chancellor), Robert Earl of 
Salisbury, Henry Earl of Northampton, Thomas 
Earl of Suffolk, Edward Earl of Worcester, 
George Earl of Dunbar, Edward Lord Zouch^ 
William Lord Knowles, John Lord Stanhope, 
Sir John Herbert (Secretary to the King), and 
Sir Julius Caesar. The other part was signed 
by Sir Henry Montague, and sixteen other per- 
sons of the Common Council committee. A 
singular mixture of aristocratic and plebeian 
names to attest this monstrous deed of partition, 
by which an entire principality is bestowed upon 
the trades of London.* 

When these articles were executed, the Court 
of Common Council proceeded to constitute a 
company, to consist of one Governor and one 
Deputy Governor, and twenty*four As^stants; 
the Governor and five Assistants to be Alder- 
men, and the Recorder to be one of the Assist- 
ants, the rest being Commoners of the City of 
London. These officers were yearly to be elec^d 
at the first Common Council to be held after the 
feast of the ** Purification of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary." The first Governor of the Society was 
William Cockayne, Alderman and Sheriff, and 
the first Deputy was William Towerson. 

The duties of the company were these: — 
" The Court further enacted, that the said 
company then elected and appointed, or there- 
after from time to time to be elected and ap- 
pointed, or any nine of them, whereof the Go- 

Digitized by VjOOQ IC 

* Concise View of tlie Society, p. 18. 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 217 

vernor or Deputy for the time being to be one, 
should have full power and authority to hold and 
keep a court, and in the same to treat, debate, 
and determine of all matters and causes concern- 
ing the business that to them in their discretions 
sbduld think fit; and also to direct, appoint, and 
command what should be done or performed on 
the behalf of the City, concerning the said plan- 
tation ; and also should give direction in England, 
either by letters or otherwise sent to Ireland, 
for the ordering, managing, and disposing of all 
things whatsoever concerning the intended plan- 
tation, or anything belonging to the citizens of 
London's undertaking in that part of Ireland 
called Ulster; as also for the receiving, ordering, 
disposing, and disbursing of all sums of money 
that were or should be collected or gathered for 
that purpose, and generally for any other cause, 
matter, or thing whatsoever, incident to or be- 
longing to the business and af&irs in Ulster; 
and in the courts so to be holden should have 
full power and authority to nominate and appoint 
their clerk, beadle, and such other officers as 
they in their discretion should think fit; and Uiat 
whatsoever should be done, decreed, or resolved 
by and at any such court so to be holden, should 
be firm and stable, and the Court of Common 
Council^thereby declared it ratified and confirmed 
by them. The wardrobe in Guildhall was ap- 
pointed to be the place where the courts of the 
company should be held. The times of meeting 
were to be appointed by the Governor or Deputy 
Governor, who were respectively to give orders 
for summoning the comt)any together. The City 



218 THE CONFISCATION OF UI«STfiB. 

Chamberlain was at the same court of Common 
Council a]:^iRted Treasurer of the monies to lie 
raised of the City for the purposes of the said 
plantation, who was to paj all monies conform 
ably to warrants to be signed by the Governor 
or Deputy Governor, with three of the Assist- 
ants of the company.'* 

Thus was " the Irish Society" formed. Where- 
upon Master Tristram Beresford and Master 
John Rowley were appointed general agents for 
the city, and immediately proceeded to Ireland^ 
where soon after the Society got seizin of their 
estates.* On the 29th of March, 1613, tbey 
were incorporated by charter, under the deno- 
mination of " the Society of the Governor and 
Assistants of London of the new Plantation of 
Ulster within the realm of Ireland." On the 28th 
of June following ^ charter was given to Cole- 
rain e. 

In December, of the same year, the couBty 
was divided into twelve divisions, with the 
exception of the city of Londonderry and the 
town of Cokraine, and the adjacent territcries, 
ferries, and fishings belonging to the same„of 
which no fair partition could have been made ; 
one division being assigned to each of the twelve 
companies of the city of London, who had.t^en 
part in the Plantation. To each of the lai^e 
companies, some smaller ones were added;, for 
example to the mercers were added the . inn^ 
keepers, cooks, embroidei*ers, and masons, ^to- 
gether, never was such incongrous material got 

Digitized by VjOOQ IC 

* Concise View, p. 16. 



TAB CONTISCATION OF tJLST£B. 219 

tog^tberfor landlords and planters of " civilhie.** 
The estates were then consigned to the manage- 
ment of the companies. 

That this management was of the worst de- 
aeription, harsh, indolent, grasping, uneconomic, 
weletLt from the inquiries directed by the king, 
and the reports made thereupon. Sir Josias 
Bodley, was sent by the Lord Deputy in 1613, 
to examine unto the progress of the Plantation, 
and to ascertain whether the city had performed 
its part. He made a report to James, complaining 
of their negligence in the strongest terms, where- 
apon the king, a ready writer, a very Solomon 
at the Pen, nay, more familiar with the Pen even 
than with the Sceptre — though tenderly loving 
both — ^writes a letter to his dear Counsellor Sir 
Arthur Chichester ; a notable historic document, 
as all James's are, but rather too long to copy 
here.* 

He reminds Sir Arthur, of the great revenue 
he might have derived from the Plantation, if he 
haSd not preferred the reformation of that disor- 
dered district of Ulster by a civil Plantation, (a 
nice euphony for robbery !) to be made therein, 
before the private profit he nnght have reaped 
by it. But, alas for royal hopes and royal 
wisdom ! after all his liberal grants, he had dis- 
otH^eted that neither the safety of the country, 
not the planting of reBgion and civility, ^'^ittongst 
that rude and barbarous people," which werfe the 
pt^ipal objects of that project, f and which he 

♦See it in full in the Appendix to the ^'Conscise 
View." pp. 37, 38. „ , ^^ 

t Agsan I must refer thg reader to Mr. Lascellcs s Obser- 



220 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

expected as the only fruits and returns to him of 
his bounty, were any whit as yet materially 
effected by the London slK^men. He was not 
ignorant how much the real accomplishment of 
the Plantation concerned the future peace and 
safety of Ireland ; but if there were no reason of 
state to press it forward, yet would his majesty 
pursue and effect that work as earnestly as he 
was doing, merely for the goodness and moraH^ 
of it, " esteeming the settling of religion, the in- 
troducing of civility, order, and government 
amongst a barbarous and unsubjected people, to 
be an act of piety and glory, and worthy of a 
Christian prince to endeavour." 

He requests that a careful survey should be 
taken, and the results to be accurately conveyed 
to him. For he had been informed that some of 
the Undertakers, (meaning thereby, doubtlessly^ 
the London merchants,) had sold away their 
portions to men of mean ability and unfit for the 
service, and that other similar offences had been 
committed against the planting of civility. And 
finally, he says, "we are so desirous to under- 
stand from you the true state of the Plantation, 
that once again we do strictly enjoin you to give 
us a faithful account of this trust which we 
repose in you, without care or fear to please or dis- 
please any of our Subjects, English or Scottish, 
of what quality soever." 

vations on Preambles. His history of Ireland has \)eea 
suppressed by government ; it was too true for gea^> 
use. But, it fortunately is still to be found in the JRwr. 
Courts' Library, and I believe the Dublin Society. B 
ought to be republished. 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 221 

One of the consequences of this letter was the 
appointment of a new officer, Nicholas Pynnar, 
to take a general survey of the works of the 
company on their proportions in Ulster.* And 
this survey, lamely and inconclusively as it was 
executed, will serve to show how far these Lon- 
don landlords complied with the conditions of their 
grant. 

The following return was made by Pynnar of 
the results of his inquiry, a.d. 1619 : 

LONDON-DERRY, CITY AND COUNTY. 

The City of London-Derry is now compassed about 
with a very strong: wall, excellently made, and neatly 
wrought, being all of good hme and stone ; the circuit 
whereof is two hundred and eighty-four perches and two- 
thirds, at eighteen feet to the perch ; besides the four 
gates, which contain eighty-four feet ; and in every place 
of the wall it is twenty .four feet high and six feet thick. 
The gates are all battlemented, but to two of them there 
IS no going up, so that they serve to no great use, nei- 
ther have they made any leaves for their gates; but 
make two draw-bridges serve for two of them, and two 
portcullices for the other two. The bulwarks are 'very 
large and good, being in number nine ; besides two half 
bulwarks ; and for four of them there may be four can- 
nons or other great pieces ; the rest are not all out so 
large, but wanteth very little. The rampart within the 
city is twelve feet thick of earth ; all things are very 
well and substantially done, saving there wanteth a 
house for the soldiers to watch in, and a sentinel house 
for the soldiers to stand in in the night to defend them 
from the weather, which is most extreme in these parts. 

* The ** Conscise View" states that, somewhat later, 
a survey was made by Sir Thomas Phillips, and that his 
account of it is extant at Lambeth Library. I have un- 
fortunately not been able to see this document, but Sir 
Thomas Phillips was not a disinterested witness. 



222 TBE CONFISCATION OP ULSTER. 

Since tiie last survey there is built a school, which is 
sixty-seyen feet in length and twenty-five feet in breadth, 
wit£ two other small houses. Other building there is 
not any within the city. The whole number of houses 
within the city are ninety-two, and in them there are 
one hundred and two families, which are far too few a 
number for the defence of such a circuit, they being 
scarce able to man one of the bulwarks ; neither is there 
room enough to set up one hundred houses more, unless 
they will make them as littie as the first, and name each 
room for a house. 

CULMORE FORT. 
This fort or blockhouse of Cuhnore is now in the 
hands of Captain John Bak^ ; the walls are now finished, 
and the castle built; all which is staroi^ and neatly 
wrought, with platforms for their artillery i and this is 
the only key and strength of the rlrer that goeth t^the 
Derry. 

COLEBAINB. 
The town of Colerwne is at the same state it was at 
the last survey ; there are but three houses added more 
to the building, which are done by other men ; only the 
aty hath allowed them twenty pounds 'a piece towards 
iia&r building. That part of the town, which unbuilt, 
is sg extreme dirty, that no man is able to go in it, and 
especially that which should and is accounted to be the 
market place. The walls and ramparts, built of sods, 
and filled with earth, do begin to decay very much and to 
moulder away ; for the ramparts are so narrow that it is 
impossible they should stand, and the bulwarks are so 
exceeding little, that there cannot be placed any piece 
of artillery, if occasion were. There are two sma& ports 
which are made of timber and boards, and they serve for 
houses for the soldiers to watdi in. This town is so 
poorly inhabited, that there are not men enough to nian 
the sixth part of the walL 

GOLDSMITHS' HALL. . . i 

3,210 Ac&Bs. i jT 

John Freeman, Esq., hath this proportion, cdii^niilng 
by estimation three thousand two hundred and tidiiiktes. 



TUB CONFISCATION OF UliSTEB. 223 

Upon this proportion there is a bawn of lime and 
stone one hundred feet square, sixteen feet high, with 
four flankers ; also there is a large castle or stone house 
in building within the wall, which was two stories high, 
and the workmen earnestly at work to finish it with all 
haste. There are also ttx houses of stone, and six of 
timber, very strong and well built, and seated in a very 
good and convenient place for the King's service. 

GROCERS' HALL. 
MuFFE, 3,210 Acres. 

Edward Rone had this proportion ; but he being dead 
there is no body to aver mr the buildings. 

Upon lAus inroportion there is a bawn in building, be- 
ing one hnmked feet square, with four flankers, the walls 
are now five feet high. By this *bawn there are buil^ 
four good strong houses of lime and stone, and well 
slated. There are four more that are built in other 
places, somewhat Airther off. There are other houses of 
lime and stone that are upon the land dispersed ; but 
they are built by the tenants themselves ; luid yet they 
have no estates, and likely, as they tell me, to be re- 
moved, some <^ them having spent upon their building 
one hundred pounds ; and ^s is throiigh the slackness 
of the Company that have not made estates to the Un- 
dertakers. All this land, for the most part, is inhabited 
with Irish. 

FISHMONGERS' HALL. 
Balltkellt, 3,210 Acres. 

This proportion is in the hands of James Higgins, a 
merchant of London, whose agent is here reddent. 

Upon this there is built a strong bawn of stone and 
lime one hundred and twenty-five feet square, twelve 
fset high, with four flankers, and a good house within 
it, being fifty feet square, all finished and inhabited by 
the agent, and furnished with good store of arms. 

There are near to the cjwstle :dfteen houses, whereof 
three are of stone and lime; the rest are of timber, and 
are rough cast with lime and slated. These:8taQd in a 
convenient place for service. There is also a church 



224 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

near bnilt, which is forty-three feet long, twenty-six » 
wide, neatly made up, and a good preacher to teach the 
pe<^le. 

IRONMONGERS* HALL. 

3,210 Acres. 

George Cammynge, agent for the Company, is here 
resident ; but he hath no order to make any estates to 
any tenants that are come thither to dwell ; notwith- 
standing there are dirers that hare disbursed a great 
deal of money, and built good houses. All that these 
men can get are articles of agreement for thirty-one 
years ; but they fear that this may be altered by others 
that may come after: notwithstanding they pay for 
erery townland, which they account to be but sixty 
acres, five pounds ten shillings, or five pounds per an- 
num. The uncertainty of this is a great hindrance of 
the Plantation. The castle, which was formerly begun, 
is fthoroughly finished, being a very good and strong 
castle ; and there is a bawn of brick and lime, whereof 
there are but three sides done, without flankers, which 
maketh the place of no strength. There are also eight 
dwelling houses of cage work, some are slated, and some 
shingled ; but they stand so far asunder that they hare 
but little succour one of another. 

MERCERS' HALL. 
Manaway, 3,210 Acres. 

This is not set to any man as yet ; but it is held by 
one Vernon, agent for the Company. 

Upon this proportion the castle, which was formerly 
begun, is now thoroughly finished, being not inferior to 
any that is built ; for it is a good strong work, and well 
built, and a very large bawn of one hundred and twenty 
feet square, with four flankers, all of good stone and 
lime. Not far from the bawn there are six houses of 
cage-work, some covered with shingles, and some 
thatched, and inhabited by such poor men as they could 
find in the country ; and these pay such dear rates for 
the land, that they are forced to take Irish tenants un- 
der them to pay the rent. T^gf^i^^ divers other 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 225 

houses of slight huilding, but they are far off, and dwell 
dispersedly in the wood, where they are forced of meer 
necessity to relieve such wood kearn as go up and down 
the country; and, as I am informed by divers in the 
cotmtiy, there are in forty-six townlands of this propor- 
tion, that are set to the Irish of the sept of Clandonells, 
wbiiik are the wickedest men in all the country. 

MERCHANT TAILORS* HALL. 
Macoskin, 3,210 Acres. 
This is in the hands of Valentine Hartopp, Esq., who 
is newly come to dwell there, having taken this propor- 
tion of the Company for sixty-one years. This castle 
is finished, being fifty feet long and thirty-four feet wide ; 
the castle is bat&emented, and built very strong, There 
is no bawn begun as yet ; but the gentleman is causing 
stone and lime to be laid in readiness, that they may go 
roundly away with it. Here, near unto the castle, are 
built seven good houses of stone and hme, well slated 
and inhabited with English, standing altogether in a 
well-chosen place. There is a fair large church well 
finished, being eighty-six feet long and thirty-two feet 
broad, the roof set up and ready to be slated. 

HABERDASHERS' HALL. 
Ballycastle, 3,210 Acres. ' 

Sir Robert Mac Lellan hath taken this of the Com- 
pany for sixty-one years ; and upon this the castle is 
strongly finished, being very strong and well wrought, 
himself with his lady and family dwelling in it. There 
is no bawn nor sign of any, nor any other kind of build- 
ing, more than slight houses after the Irish manner, 
wMch are dispersed all over the land. The church lieth 
still as at the first, and nothing at all doing unto it. 
There were nominated unto me six freeholders, which 
were in Scotland, and these were set down but for small 
quantities; and twenty-one leaseholders; but not any 
one of these could show me any thing in writing for 
their estates ; neither could the landlord show me any 
counterparts. It is true I saw the land planted with 
Britbh tenants to the niunber of eighty men, and in the 
castle arms for them. „,„,,, ,, Google 



326 TW»iiiiwn»cA^rum^VhmM^. 

CXiOTHWOUHBIffir HALL. 

The 8«MI Sir Itobert faiHb taten tUs. pwpMtiM «r tte. 
Gompamiy ibr rixtys^one yeMt^. and apcmUns thoe iB« 
oaslt^ «f lime and itone fif^^buribel long, tiiirty.fbiir 
feet wide, and twdntT^ip^t ^t in b^ght; lont Hdftla 
not as yet oorered, neither «By plantaHoik with Bri- 
tish tenants, bat only one fteeholder, which is the par- 
son of the parish. For aU thl9 la;n^ is inhabited with 

"•»' SKINNERS* KAIiL. * 

BUNOITEK, S,210 ACRE9^> 

The XMy Dodingtcm, late wife to Sir Edward Boding^ 
iMW deceased, is in possessioaof iihis, she having a grant 
of it frfxa the Company for stcty-one yeanu S^e ia 
hiiilt a strong castle, being two stones high Mid a bali^ 
with « large bawn of lime and stone w^ fortified. In 
tliM the lady is now dwelling, with twenty-four in her 
fiuiily. Thm is also ui another plaoe of this land, caBed 
Crosagdt, a strong castle of lime and stone bnilt by Sir 
Edward, being eighty feet long and thirty-four feet 
broad, with two Arrets to 4ank it^ als« a bawn of lime 
and stone an fatnidred &et aqinanDk feivteen feet, and 
our flankers; so that on this proportion there are 
two bawns and two caaUes, with two Tillages, containing 
twelve houses a piece. At each castle also there is a 
chureh adjcmiing to the castle^ tfnd a good teacher to in^ 
atroct the people. There is plenty of arma in these 

VIKTNiaEfcS' HALL. 

3.210 AcSiES. ' 

This is Itt the hands of Baptist Jones, Esf ., who hstfi 
birilt a bawn of brick and line ait famidced feet a^nare, 
with two round flamkeni and a giood rampart, wlidcliM 
more than any <^ the rest hove done^ Ttee^ araaiiD 
within the bawn two good hovses^ one opp««ite 1o4be 
f^^Aset ; the one is eeven^ fbet I019 and twsn^fivetet 
wide; the other is nothing inferior tmloit. TTmi nnln 



TPHE CONFISCATION Cft TTLSngH. ^PSf? 

the bawn he hath built ten good English homey of cage- 
wotk, that be very strong and covered with tiles, the 
street very wide, and is to be commanded by the bawn. 
All these are Inhabited with English families, and him- 
seif with his wife and femily be resident therein. There 
are divers other good houses buMt upon the land, which 
are further off; and these do use tillage plentiftdly aftei: 
the English manner. He hath made his full number of 
fipeehoMers and leaseholders; but he being gone into^ 
England, and his tenants at the assizes, I saw them not. 
There was good store of arms in his house, and upon, 
the hmd seventy-six men, as I was informed. 

BRAPERS* HALL. : 

MONBTMMIB, 8,210 ACEBg. 

13aaA proportion is not set to«ny man, but is heM by 
ihe ageokt, Mr. Eosad. Upon this there is a stroni^ bawn 
of stone and lime an hundred feet square, £fteen feet 
high, ^ith two flankers. There is [a castle within the 
bawn of the same 'wideness, behig battlemented, the 
fMsh ImiSk sAaoimy flankars, and near finished, iitight 
b^OBe ^ oaeUe there are built twelve houses, wheMof 
iix are of lime and stone very good, and six of timber, 
Jihabited with English families; and this is the bedt 
work that I have seen for building ; a water-mill and a. 
:fia]t-hous6 also. A quarter of a mile fh)m the town 
4tare is made a oonduithead, which bringeth water ta 
all places in the bawn and town in pipes. But these 
tenants have not any estates ; for the agent can make 
noaae, neither will they, till such time as^ their land ettn 
be improved to the utmost. Wiitdiin this castle there is 
good store of arms. 

SALTERS* HACL. 

3,210 Acres. 

Hagh Sayer is upon this proportion, and upon this 
thfey have built in two several places at Marifelt. There 
is a bawn of eighty feet square of lime and' irtidne, witlh 
•tvro' flankers, and the- castle is now in bailriing^ being 
sixty feet long and twenty feet wide. This is now three 
stories high, and the roof ready W be wt u^^'^^wiUs 



228 THK CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

of the bawn^are not as yet abore ten £eet high. Near 
onto the bawn there are seven houses of slight cage- 
work, whereof five are inhabited with poor men, the 
other two stand waste. The other place, called Salters* 
Town, hath a bawn of stone and lime seventy feet 
square, twelve feet high, with two flankers, and a poor 
house within it of cage-work, in which the farmer, with 
his wife and family, dweUeth. Here are also nine houses 
of cage-work standing by the bawn, being inhabited with 
British families, also a sawing-mill for timber ; but the 
glass-houses are gone to decay, and utterly undone. 
There are not any upon this land that have any estates.* 

Pynnar's inquiry with reference to the entire 
Plantation, resulted in these conclusions: — 

That there were settled on the escheated lands 
6,215 bodies of men, but he observes that, from 
the number of habitations, and by having con- 
versed with parties who were there, and fkmiliar 
with the statistics, he is led to believe that there 
might have been then (1619) found on these 
lands at least 800 men of British descent and 
birth, ready and able to do his Majesty's service: 

That there were built 107 castles with bawns; 
19 castles without bawns; 42 bawns without 
castles or houses; 1,897 dwelling-houses of stone 
and timber built after the English manner: 

That from the insecurity of tenure, many of 
the English tenants did not then plough upon 
the lands nor use husbandry, because they feared 
to stock themselves with cattle and servants for 
such labours ; nor did the Irish use tillage, from 
a similar and a more just apprehension of the 
continuance of their holdings : 

That the English rested satisfied with the ex- 

• Pynnar*8 Survey inHarris's «* Hibemica,** pp. 22S-283. 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 229 

6rbitant rents they obtained from the Irish who 
grazed their lands, and if the Irish had been put 
away with their cattle, the British should have 
either forsaken their dwellings or endured great 
distress " on the suddain." * Yet the combina- 
tion of the Irish " is dangerous to them, by rob- 
bing them and otherwise." 

That the greatest number of Irish dwelt upon 
the lands of the City of London, which he attri- 
butes to the fact, that the estates of five of the 
companies were not set to tenants, but were still 
in the hands of agents, who finding the Irish 
more profitable than the British, were unwilling 
** to draw on the English, persuading the com- 
pany that the lands were mountainous and un- 
profitable, not regarding the future security of 
the whole." f And, moreover, he found that the 
lessees of lands affirmed that they were not bound 
to plant with English, but may plant with any 
people they pleased, (an ingenious and just read- 
ing of the oraers and conditions,) and that nei- 
ther was the City of London bound by its patent 
to plant with English. On these rocks, honest 
Nicholas Pynnar decided, that the Plantation 
would fail egregiously.|^ In some senses, Nicho- 
las was right. - '^ • 

It is fortunate, that for the historic interest of 

* How singular it'w, and painful to think, that the 
only security the natives had against entire destruction 
was in the necessities, fears, and wants of their de- 
spoilers. 

t Pynnar*s Survey, in Harris's **Hibemica," page 
236-7. 

: , X Ibid, page 237. Digitized by Google 

o 



230 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

this essay, we are not bound to follow '* the Irish 
Society" through its various fortunes ; nor to tell 
how the end of all these delinquencies and all 
these inquiries was a sequestration of their Irish 
property, (1624) ; how, when Went worth* was 
Lord Deputy, (1625), he brought over with him 
his chaplain, Bramhall, afterwards Bishop of 
Derry, and a sore thorn in the Society's side ; 
how Sir Thomas Phillips, (1625), sent forth to 
the King, after due deliberati<m, " a most viru- 
lent accusation ;*' f and how various other virulent 
accusations followed fast at the instigation of 
Brarnhall, urging the King to revoke the charter 
and to take the lands into his own royal hands ; 
how the patent of James was annulled by the 
Star Chamber, (1637), and Londonderry seized 
into his Ms^esty's keeping ;. how the society and 
their terre-tenants were served with scire facias^ 
and judgments, went duly against them, whereby 
the letters patent were revoked, cancelled, and 
made void, and the county and the city seized 
into the King's hands ; and how, finally, that 
sentence was reversed, and the Society, in the 
eventful year of 1641, were restored to all their 
possessions, the Bishop of Derry and $ix Thomas 
Phillips, notwithstanding.^ 



* Commonly called Black Tom, and iiltenvfttds 'be- 
headed by the warrant of his loving master, CtttuPles the 
First. 

t " Concise View," p. 32. ] 

i Law jargon, which it would benefit none but law- 
yers to know anything about ; and of which few of them 
do know anyt^pdng. t-jp, ii^ofn 

§ Any reference to the long litigations of the Sdi^y 



THB CONFISCATION OF tJLSTER. 231 

The Irish Society have never been, and it is 
in nature that they ought not to be, popular as 
landlords. Even so late as three years since, an 
able and important document has been printed 
by the Corporation erf Derry, being the Address 
,of the Mayor to that body, detailing the number- 
less crying evils which this foreign and grasping 
society inflicts upon the country, which has the 
misfortune to be under its control. The address 
is a most inestimable document historical and 
political, and its statements will possibly, in the 
end, assist in bringing about the expulsion of 
the representatives of the original usurpation.* 

is here needless. They have no historical, and little 
general interest. 

* At a time, when an incapaMe government is allow- 
ing a peoi^e to starve before the eyes of the dvilized 
world, and when agragarian murder is scattering de- 
struction through the land, why do they not sequestrate 
the possessions of the society — it was done before by 
Charles the Martjnr — and divide them in fee-farms 
funongst the people, of course, giving the liondoti shop- 
keepers what their predecessors paid for the estates and 
the value of their permanent improvements ? But let 
me be imderstood to speak only of an absentee corpora- 
tion of English traders, men who confer on our country 
no protection by their power and no glory by their sta- 
tion. I do not speak of those descendimts of the original 
planters, who, bom on our soil, have a title that no human 
being can question or doubt, and amongst whom have 
been found some of our most distinguished patriots, 
orators, and soldiers. But the incongruity of a set of 
London tradesmen, squandering our revenues upon their 
city, or their appetites, is too great, and the injustice 
too monstrous to be endured by any but a nation of the 
most spiritless slaves. Do the Irish people deserve the 

^^'^^^'^ Digitized by Google 



232 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 



In the Appendix to Mr. Haslett's statement are 
the following charge and reply : — 

Charges by the Corporation. Reply by the Society. 



**That from the nature 
of their constitution the So- 
ciety is incapahle of render- 
ing any permanent henefit 
to this country, as it is 
composed of merchants and 
tradesmen in the city of 
Lond<m, whose husiness re- 
quires their constant resi- 
dence therein, whereby they 
are, of course, ignorant of 
the local circumstances and 
wants of the inhabitants of 
this district, and, besides, 
being only elected for two 
years, cannot possibly ac- 
quire the information pro- 
per to qualify them for the 
due discharge of their du- 
ties; and, accordingly, it 
appears by the accounts 
printed and published by 
them, that, in the course 
of the nine years ending 
March, 1833, they have re- 
ceived no less a sum than 
£77,000 from their estates 
in tJiis country, while not 
more than £8,000 have been 
expended in it — a sum not 
equal to the amount divided 
among the members, or ex- 
pended by them in taverns. 



**The Society are annu- 
ally elected agreeably to the 
Charter, and whether the 
colonisation of the County 
of Derry from the City of 
London, and the different 
ramifications of ^le plan 
prescribed by the Charter 
were theoretically wise, is 
not a matter to be argued 
at the present moment : it 
is obvious it has been prac 
tically beneficial; and the 
present state of that county, 
which is the most peaceable 
and orderiy in its conduct, 
and is an example to be 
pointed out to all the other 
parts of Ireland, plainly 
shows the benefits which 
have resulted from it. The 
present unfortmiate mtua- 
tion of the Corporatiofi of 
Derry is certainly asx ex- 
ception, but it has been 
clearly shown not to have 
been produced by the So- 
ciety, but by their own pro- 
fuse expenditure and ^ross 
misapplication of the fyt^ds 
confided to theit' manage* 
ment. The nine •jnears'^ttc-^ 
count referred to, instead of 
£8,000, shew that upwards 
of £35,000 have b^; ex- 
pended in Ireland pjf'the 

^°^^§Jifc by Google " 



THE CONFISCATION OF tJLSTER. 233 

•* That this sum is stated ** The Society let their 
to have been expended on lands upon such easy rents, 
schools and public charities; and upon such leases, as to 
yet your petitioners believe make it the interest of the 
and confidently assert, that tenants to build."* 
no sum has ever been ex- 
pended by them to im- 
prove the farm-buildings or 
houses of the tenantry on 
their estates. 

How excellently, and with what force, are all the 
leading doctrines of the present popular party in 
this country, which is widening into a National 
Party, set forth in this vigorous statement of 
the Derry Corporation ! Brave doctrines and 
manly, for the bold descendants of the Ulster 
planters. 

But one or two entries, from their own histo- 
nan, may be added to enable the reader to judge 
of the principles and mode of conduct of the Irish 
Society. One has been already given, which re- 
cords their selfish opposition to the attempts made 
to raise Ballycastle to the benefits and commer- 
cial position of a town of import and export. 
Another, and more important, is the following: — 

** The society sent precepts to all the companies, 
recjuiring each of them to send one or two artisans 
with their families, into Ulster, to settle • there ; 
and directions were also given, in order that 
Derry might not in future be peopled with Irish, 
that twelve Chrises Hospital and other poor 



* ThiB observation, if correct when made, would certainly not be so 

it made now. There are no tenantry in this neighbourhood who com- 

"i»ain*inore of their landlords, than do the tenants of the Honourable 

the Irish Society. No lands in the country are more highly rented 

than their late lettings. 



234 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

children should be sent there as apprentices and 
servants^ and the inhabitants were to be prohi^ 
bitedfrom taking Irish apprentices. Directions 
were also given to the companies, to repair the 
churches on their several proportions, and furnish 
the ministers with a bible, common prayer book, 
and a communion cup. The trades which the 
society recommended as proper to introduce into 
Ulster were weavers of common cloth, fustians, 
and new stuffs, felt-makers and trimmers of hats, 
and hat band makers, lock-smiths and farriers, 
tanners and fellmongers, iron-makers, glass- 
makers, pewterers, coast fishermen, turners, bas- 
ket-makers, tallow-chandlers, dyers, and curriers." 

And thus did it come to pass, by royal wisdom 
and plebeian cupidity, that the twelve companies 
of London became absentee proprietors of prodi- 
gious estates in Ireland, of towns, and cities, and 
castles, and lakes, and seas ; a most singular 
settlement, unlike all of which there is remain- 
ing record. That on the whole they have well 
discharged their duties to themselves, and after a 
very scurvy fashion to their tenants, is true ; but 
the most indisputable fact is that there they still 
are, a permanent and enduring monument raised 
by his own hands, to the wisdom and the honesty 
of James Stuart. 

James had excellent ministers for his pur- 
poses. Cecil and Bacon divide between them 
the honour of devising most of the great stage 
tricks of his reign. Gunpowder plots, sham Irish 
plots, Spanish marriages, and Orders of Nobility, 
Thus, it is doubtful, whether it was the treasurer 
or the chancellor, who hit upon the fortunate ex- 



THE CONFISCATION OP ULSTER. 235 

pedient, for a needy monarch, of creating the 
order of Baronetage, a most merchantable and 
profitable commodity. Considering, however, that 
there is extant an elaborate letter of Sir Francis 
Bacon to James the First, on the title, dignity, 
and precedence of Baronets, having been con- 
sulted by the King on these momentous points, 
and that Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Chancel- 
lor's near relation, of Redgrave, Suffolk, was the 
first creation, we may safely attribute some share 
of the invention to the latter.* 

The King, pressed for money, and at the same 
time having a most apt and plausible excuse to 
get it, namely, to provide for the safety of his 
infant Ulster Plantation, on the 22nd of May, 
1611, founded the order of Baronets in England, 
the fees of each patent of creation being over 
£1000. It was an order of intermediate dignity 
between baron and knight. Baronets were per- 
mitted to bear in their coat armour, as an 
honourable augmentation, the arms of the an- 
cient Kings of Ulster, either in a canton or 
scutcheon of pretence, being argent, a hand 
sinister, coupSd at the torist, extended in pale 
gules ; in oUier and more intelligible language 
than this jargon, the arms of Ulster were the 
Red Hand of O'Neill, degraded much by being 
made parcel of these undeserved and venal ho- 
nours. In the patent creating this order, which 
the reader will find set out at length in its ori- 
ginal Ciceronian Latin, in the 3d volume of John 
Seiden's works, (p. 842), James sets forth as the 

♦ Letter to the King.— Bacon's Worka, vol. 2, p. 161. 



236 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

promoting cause of its institution, his anxiety to 
consummate the Plantation of Ulster, '^ ilia non 
minimi momenti, inter alias imperii nostri gerendi 
curas, de Flantatione regni nostri Hibemiaa, ac 
potissimum Ultonise." And in the same patent, 
he enumerates the objects of the Plantation/ *^ ut 
oppida condantur, aedes et castra struantur, agri 
colantur, et id genus alia." But these were pre- 
tences both of the Plantation of Ulster and the 
institution of baronetcy ; the moving motive was 
nearly half a million of our present money, which 
the King received and pocketed. For in his in- 
structions, preserved also in Selden, he carefully 
directs the commissioners appointed to superin- 
tend the patents, that " the treasurer of England 
should so order the receipt, (namely, of the ba- 
ronet's fees, or purchase money,) as no part 
thereof be mixed with our other treasure, but 
kept apart by itself to be wholly converted to 
that use to which it is given and intended." That 
the object for which this levy was destined, was 
not, as was pretended, the Plantation of Ulster, 
but to furnish means for the profligate extrava- 
gance of James and his favourite Rochester,* is 
clear from tjie statement of Hume, that it was 
the duty of *' Suffolk, a man of slender capacity, 
(who had succeeded Cecil,) to supply from an 
exhausted treasury, the profusion of James and 
his young favourite. The title of Baronet, in- 
vented by Salisbury, was sold; and two hundred 
patents of that species of knighthood, were dis- 
posed of for so many thousand pounds." * Lin- 

♦ James the First was very immmoral. *«He was 



THE CONFISCATION OP ULSTER. 237 

gard says, that this device for providing money, 
was the invention of Sir Anthony ghirley, for 
which the Earl of Salisbury promised him a 
large recompense "which he never had."* How- 
ever this may have been, the baronetage was 
created and was sold ; it was to descend to heirs 
male and to be confined *to 200 gentlemen of 
three descents, (a promise scandalously broken, 
for in a few reigns there had been created over a 
thousand of them), and possessing at least £1000 
a year. The patent was priced at £1,095, the 
estimated charge of thirty soldiers during three 
years, and purchasers were found ; not so abun- 
dant, however, as the King wished, or his neces- 
sities required. In six years ninety-three patents 
were sold. ** It is unnecessary," Dr. Lingard 
says, " to add that the money never found its 
way to Ireland." 

The order of Irish baronetcy, was instituted 
on the 13th September, 1619. It is now conso- 
lidated with the baronetcy of England and the 
Scotch baronetage of the Plantation of Nova 
Scotia. 

charmed,** says Himie, **to hear of the amours of his 
court, and listened with attention to every tale of gal- 
lantry." — Hist, of England, vol. 6, p. 67, Edinburgh ed. 
1805^ He superintended the adulterous pleasures of 
Bochefiiter and the profligate Countess of Sussex, and was 
the worthless centre of all the scandals of his wretched 
court. 

'^ Linfeaard, vol. 9, p. 149, quoting Sir Thomas Shirley 
iij.Dftlr^yle, p. 69, 



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238 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

The Parliaments of 1613, 1614, 1615— The battle for 

Speakership — Attainder of the Traitors. 

A.D. 1613, 14, 15. 

In the beginning of the year 1613, there were 
two great parties in Ireland — one which adhered 
to the Grovemment, attached to it by sympathy 
of religion, by the enjoyment of offices, or the 
expectation of favours; the other, the Recu- 
sants,* or, in other words, the Roman Catholic 
nobility, whether of English or Irish descent, 
and the native people of the country. The rela- 
tive strength of these two parties was now to be 
tried in a parliamentary contest as singular as 
any which has ever occurred. Chichester had 
two objects in summoning a parliament — ^to esta- 
blish an English ascendancy, and to attaint the 
Eaids* Twenty-seven years had passed away, 
and no such assembly had sat in Ireland, when ^ 
it was thought politic to obtain a sanction to the 
Plantation by this attaint. It is remarkable that 
all the fruits of forfeiture had already been en- 
joyed. The estates of Tyrowen, Tyrconnell 
O'Cahan, O'Dogherty, and Maguire*had been, 
seized upon and divided, and the tribes of Under- i 

I 

* Recusants were those refusing to attend chorch 
worship, !or to take the oaths— in fine, Catholics, or 
mere Irish. Poor^lr^ 

Digitized by VjOOy Ic 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 239 

takers and Servitors had been located in the 
principalities of the Irish chiefs. It appeared 
as if the conscience of the King needed a further 
sanction. 

But, apart from all other considerations, Sir 
Arthur Chichester was determined to establish a 
permanent English ascendancy in the Irish 
parliament ;* and he pledged himself to his mas- 
ter, provided that he was indulged in making 
the previous arrangements, that in spite of num- 
bers, property, and influence in the country, he 
would securely establish that ascendancy in the 
Irish Houses of Lords and Commons.f ^'So 
early," says Plowden, " was the doctrine of ma- 
naging parliaments brought to practical ef&- 
ciency4 

It was decided that the Parliament should be 
held on the 18th of May, 1613. Summonses 
were issued, and the elections took place. But 
Chichester had previously adopted efficient steps 
to procure for himself a great majority; for, at 
his suggestion, James had crated a set of bo 
roughs--" pptwalloping boroughs "-^o the num 
ber of forty^ which were represented in Parlia 
ment by *' captains, lieutenants, and cominander 

• Flowden (vol.; 1, p. 227, Andrews* London ed., 
1831) calls it Protestant Ascendancy, but it wasFrotes- 
tant only because English and Protestant interests looked 
the same way. 

t Ibid* vol. % p. 228. Howden does not give his 
authority, which is unpardonable in a historian, but , 
study of the original documents given in the Desiderat 
Hibermca Cimosa convinces jne that he is right in hia 
views. 

t Ibid. Digitized by Google 



240 THE CONFISCATION OP ULSTER. 

of soldiers, which did daily oppress this poor 
country; many clerks, attorneys, and officers of 
courts and places, who with excessive fees con- 
tinually extorted upon the subjects; divers ser- 
vants to great men, and others that made their 
benefit by following of intrusions and conceal- 
ments,* to the great impoverishment of ancient 
gentlemen and freeholders.^f 

The elections presented a lively scene of com- 
motion and outrage. The Recusants were strong, 
and not wanting in vigour and energy to support 
their own views. They were strong, because of 
the addiction of the people, both noble and 
ignoble, patrician and plebeian, to Bomanism,^ 
who would not vote for any but an avowed Re- 
cusant, "by means whereof many hollow-hearted 
persons were produced For knights of the shire 
and burgesses of Parliament" § And they were 

• Concealments occurred thus: — ** In the confusion ci 
all former times, lands had necesaBiHy heen concealed \ 
and detained from the Crown. AdventorerB were en- 1 
couraged by the numerous donations of estates, and tiie 
ease with which affluent fortunes were obtained in Ire- 
land ; they ransacked old records, they detected such 
concealments, were countenanced by the State, dispos- I 
sessed old inhabitants, or obliged them to componnd for j 
their intrusion,** — Leland, vol. % p. 439. j 

JHibemica Desiderata Curiosa, vol. 1, p. 220. 
This is the first instance I have met with of an epi 
thet now usually adopted by underbred bigotry and ap» 

plied to Boman Catholics Des, Hib, Cur.^ voL 1, p. 

156. 

§ Ibid, p. 156. An interesting account is given of tli0 
election of Dublin representatives in this book. Th« 
article is called ** Chronicles of Ireland." 

# Digitized by Google 



THB CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 241 

energetic, because their cause was the cause of 
Religion and Toleration. 

The Catholic lords of the Pale were justly 
alarmed at the calling of this Parliament, anti- 
cipating its designs, and they addressed several 
expostulatory letters to James, the first of which 
bears date the 25th November, 1612. This 
letter, though flattering enough — ^presented, in- 
deed, "upon the bended knees of our loyal 
hearts," a strange Catholic metaphor — gave great 
o£fence to James, unaccustomed to hear in Eng- 
land the words of truth and justice, and which 
he answered with becoming ire of royalty. 
Winter wore away in fruitless negotiations, and 
the 18th of May, 1613, broke upon a singular 
and eventful struggle. 

On that day, the Lord Deputy, with the peers 
of the realm, and the nobles and clergy, both 
bishops and archbishops, (but with no Hecu- 
sant peer, noble, or bishop), " attired in scarlet 
robes very sumptuously, with sound of trumpet, 
the Lord Barry and the Lord Buttevant bearing 
the Sword of State, and the Earl of Thomond 
bearing the Cap of Maintenance, and after all 
these the Lord Deputy, riding upon a most 
stately horse, very richly trapped, himself attired 
in a very rich and stately robe of purple velvety 
which the King's Majesty had sent him, having 
his train borne up by eight gentlemen of worth,"* 
did ride from the Castle of Dublin to the Cathe- 
dral Church of St. Patrick, to hear divine ser- 
vice, and a sound orthodox sermon preached by 

• Des. Hil). Car., vol. 1, p. 166.^ 
p 



242 THE CONYISCATION OF ULSTBK. 

the Reverend Father in Grod, Christopher Hamp- 
ton, Archhishop of Armagh and PHmate of 
Ireland. When this pious ^nplojment wa6 over 
thej returned in equal state to the Castle, where 
they ascended to the High House of Parliament^* 
and the Lord Deputy, attired very samptttondy 
as hefore, sat down in his chair of state. Where- 
upon ^e Lord Chancellor made a grave and 
worthy speedi, and auMmgst oth^ things declldieki 
his Majesty's pleasure concerning 8ir Ji^ Da- 
vies, his Majesty's Attomey-Genend, abd how 
he was pleased that he should be &e SpeAi^ ef 
the Lower Parliament Hoide, and how his 
Majesty had by his gracious letter recommended 
the said Sir John to the Lord Deputy, «md tiie 
whole state of the Parliament House^ Wi^mig 
them to accept of him for tiiat purposej^-na veiy 
doubtful proceeding on the part tif jFAme^ it 
appearing to be a privilege of th« Parliament to 
elect liiek own Speaker, the asseikt 6( the Qr6Wh 
being a mere formula-f 

On the next day the House proceeded to eteet 
a Speaker. The Recusants entered Duhlih 
in st^te, with armed iseWants, and all the lq>p^$ar- 

* This Parliament sat in the Castle. 
' f A constitutional precedent to that efiect was cer- 
tcdnlj established later, in the reign of Charles XL in the 
i'arliament of 1679. Meres was named b^y^ the Court, 
but Seymour was elected by the Commons. The King 
refused to receive the latter, but the House persisted in 
their choice. A compromise occurred^ and the Kittg'^ 
dignity was savfed, by the election of a third party ; but 
the point was considered as settled. — Wingrove Coke*s 
History of Party, vol. 1, p. 88 ; JBumett, Parliamwtary 
History. o,,,ized by Google 



THE CONFISCATION OF Ut-STBR. 243 

anoe of tnumpli. But the ekctloa lor Sp^^ker 
proved that they had mistaken their nnmbers. 
Sir John Davies was introduced to take his 
place^ but was ol]jeoted to by the Becusanta. 
After much uproar, scarcely to be matched even 
in modem assemblies, an election took place, and 
a division was had, the Catholic party proposing 
•Bkr John Everard, who had lost his place as 
Chief Justice because be would not take the 
necessary oaths, whereupon, according to the 
ottstom of the Irish House, one patty (and that 
was the Government men) went out into an ad^ 
joining room to be numbered, when the Recu- 
sants put Sir John Everard into the chair. The 
Govemmeftt party, when they came back, seeintg 
^hat though they had a majority they were thus 
outwitted, set Sir John Davies on Everard's la^ 
and then forcibly pulled the latter down, tore his 
garments, and bruised his body.* The numbers 
in the divisiim for l^akership were> tibe House 

* This is the statement of the R6cii«ant party^ (Des. 
Hih. Cur., vol. 1, p. 223,) and must, of course, be taken 
wUh allowances. A scene equally tidrbulent took place 
ft little later in the English Houae> when Denzel, Holies, 
and other honourable members, seized Speaker Finch, 

and held him by main fotce in ilbe chair Carlyie^s 

Speeches and liiters wfOrtmwell, toL 1, p. 98. The 
Goremment party in the Irish house were emboldened to 
this strong act ^ the p ree en e e of a band of soldier?, com^ 
^tely armed, with lighted matches in their hands, who 
were pkieed for purposes o^ terrorism at the entrance of 
the Parliament rooms. — Ourry^g Civil WarSf p. 79. Si- 
milar scenes of bmtal and overbearing despotism occur- 
red at the time of the Union. Indeed, the packing of the 
house, the corruption, and the intimidation on both these 
occasions, have a strotig family likenessCoogle 



244 THS CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

being composed of 232 members — 127 Govern- 
ment members for Sir John Davies ; 97 Recusant 
members for Sir John Everard; six members 
were absent; and the two candidates made up 
the number 232. 

The Recusant lords and gentlemen did not 
cease importuning the Crown, and they were at 
length ordered over to London, to state their 
case to his Majesty in person. The names of 
those who went were Jenico Preston, Lord Gor- 
manstown ; James Lord Dunboyne ; Sir Chris- 
topher Plunket; Sir James Grough; WiUiam 
Talbot, and Edward Fitzharris. To anticipate 
any effect these statements might have, though 
it was not probable they would have produced 
any on the biassed mind of James, Chichester 
dispatched three avant- couriers to England^ 
namely, Sir Oliver St. John, Sir John Denham^ 
and the Earl of Thomond, with full anticipatory 
instructions. These are the instructions, with 
the profanest closing that the insolent spirit of 
vulgar Puritanism could devise : — 

** -4 part of the Instructions sent to thi JSarl of TTiomond, 

Sir John Denam, and Sir Oliver St, John, in J5n^ 

land, 6th Junii, 1613. 

*• Whereas they say, that such as were returned to their 
party were without exception, you may shew the con^ 
trary by shewing how many of them were heads of re- 
bellion in the last wars, how some of them can speak no 
English, how they were all elected by a general combi- 
nation and practice of Jesuits and priests, who charged 
all the people, upon pain of excommunication, not to 
elect any of the king's religion. 

** To axjquaint the lords of the coimcil in the presence 
of the recusant lords and commons now gone thither, that 
'n conference had with Tyrone and his Lrish partakers in 



THE CONMSCATIOn'oP UI.STBK. 245 

the late rebellion, when they thought to carry the king- 
dom from the crown of England, he and the rest of the 
ancient Irish did solemnly declare and publish, that no 
person of what quality or degree soever, being descended 
of Irish race, birth or blood, though they came in with 
the conquest, and were since degenerated and become 
Irish by alteration of name and customs, should inherit 
or possess a foot of land within the kingdom, for that 
they had of the ancient Irish that could pretend justly 
to every foot of land which they possessed, who should 
enjoy the same. And when it was demanded of them by 
some degenerate English, and others of good simames, 
who did join and partake with them in that rebellion, 
what should become of them and their houses and fami- 
lies, l^ey said, that those of the rebellion should be slain ; 
the rest, if they would stay in the land, should be enter- 
tained for their bonaughts, or to laboiir, and if they 
liked not thereol^ they might depart the kingdom. 

"This discourse notwithstanding they can be content 
to iidmit into the house of parliament to make laws, some 
of the principal actors in that rebellion, and are offended, 
that they cannot expnlse the king's honest subjects to 
draw in more of tliat wicked crew, as namely are dected 
and returned. Sir Bryan Mc Mahon, who is married to 
Tyron's daughter. Sir Tibot ne Long, alias Bouike, 
Phelim Mc "Kege Byrne, Dermot Mc Cartie, aliafl Mc Do- 
nogh, Donnel O SiUHvan, Bryan Mc Donogh, supposed 
by the recusants duly elected ; and that they would fain 
draw into the house Sir Tirlagh M*Henry O'Neal, half 
brother to Tyrone, Sir Arthur M*Genis, who is married 
to Tyrone's daughter, Henry M*Shane O'Neal* Tirlagh 
M*Art O'Neal, Connor Boe Maguire, Sir John M'Cougb- 
lan, Callogh O'Moloy, Capt. Richard Tyrrell, and others 
of that crew. For they would have JBarabbas, and exclude 
Jesus,** 

James himself delivered his final answer 
(having previously sent William Talbot and 
Thomas Luttrel, two other recusant missionaries, 
to the Tower and Fleet, as a conclusive reply to 
their argument^) on the 12th April, 1614, in the 



246 THE CONFISCATION OF UI^TER. 

Council Chamber of Whitehall, whither the 
Recusants had been summoned* He said, that 
their first letter was full of pride and arrogance, 
wanting much of the respects that subjects owe 
their sovereign (though it was presented " on the 
bended knees of their most loyal hearts"); and 
he goes on to say : — ** Of fourteen returns where- 
of you complained, but two have been proved 
false ; and in the government nothing hath been 
proved faulty, except yon would have the king- 
dom of Ireland like the kingdom of Heaven, 
But commonly offenders are most bold to makfi 
offers of innocency, for this being in passion, 
began in heat, and continue in heat; but when 
they see themselves in the glass of their own 
vanity, they find their error: And this I have 
found by my own experience in Scotland, and 
since my coming hither." 

And again he says : " The parliament being 
sat, you went on with greater contempt. There 
were in the lower bouse two bodies, and but one 
head ; and whereas you should have made an 
humble and dutiful answer to the commendation 
which I made of a speaker, you, the recusant 
party being the fewer, when the greater 'number 
went out to be numbered, shut the door, and 
thrust one into the chair as a speaker. After 
this the recusants of both houses departed from 
the parliament ; the like was never heard of in 
France, Spain, or any kingdom in Christendom." 

The next portion of his reply is celebrated ; 
"But you complain of the new boroughs, therein 1 
would.fain feel your pulse, for yet I find not where 
the shoe wrings. For first, they question the 



THE CONFISCATION OF UL8TSB. 247 

power of the kiog^ whether he may lawfully make 
them : and then jou question the wisdom of the 
kipg and his council, in that you say there are 
too many madq. It was never before heard, that 
my good subjects did dispute the king's pow^ 
in this point. What is it to you whetl^er I make 
many or few boroughs ? My council may consider 
t]ie fitnes£^ if f require it. But what if I had 
Qrfdfited forty noblemen, and four hundred bo- 
roughs? The more the merrier, the fewer the bet- 
tfir cheer." And his ccmclusion, short, peremptory, 
and despotic, was : — '* To conclude, my sentence 
is, th^t in the matter of parliament, you have car- 
ri^ yowrselves tumultuously and undutifully; 
iMi^d that your proceedings have been rude, dis- 
iX^Tljy ^d ine:^cusable, and worthy of severe 
punishp^ent, which by reason of your submission, 
I do fprbear, but not permit, 'till I see your 
diitifnl carriage in this parliament, where, by 
ypilf* obedience to the Deputy, and state, and 
your future good behaviour, you may redeem 
yoi^r past miscarriage, and then may deserve not 
only pardon, but favour and cherishing." 

Thp result of the controversy for Speaker was, 
that the Becu^nt party, setting a precedent that 
has often been unhappily followed in Ireland,* 
£gir fL while seceded from the sittings of the house, 
and left every thing to the Ascendancy party, 
thus permitting the captains, lieutenants, and 
commanders of soldiers to have their own way with 
the liberties of the people and the estates of the 
Northern Chiefs. 

♦ By Grattan and Curran,^^&<Q^gi^ 



248 TUE COKFISCATIOK OF ULSTER. 

After many proloDgatioDs, the Parlianieiit 
again assembled in 1615. The two houses 
joined in passing an act for recognizing the 
King's title to the crown. "Wherein," says 
Leland, " they gave ample testimony of the ex- 
cellence of his government and tender concern 
for his people of Ireland ;" an unquestionable tes- 
timony» even although the Recusants who had re- 
turned to Parliament this session concurred in it 
most willingly. This tender concern was mani- 
fested by " reducing them to order, by settling 
them in peace, by confirming their possessicMis, 
by various acts of favour, and particularly by the 
civil Plantation of the escheated lands of Ul- 
ster."* Truly these Catholic Recusants were 
strange patriots — ^patriots of the Pide^ as such 
always are — selfish, mean, and sycophant. 

The old statutes against the natives of Irish 
blood — now that they were well plundered and 
subdued, no longer considered as enemies or meer 
Irish — were repealed, as were also those barbar 
rous laws which forbade them commerce, inters 
marriage, and fosterage, and calling over Scots and 
marrying with them — all swept away by this gra- 
cious Parliament. Subsidies granted to James, 
who much wanted them ; petitions presented for 
a relaxation of the Penal Codes of Elizabeth, 
but cautiously answered, and, as the hisUnian of 
a futui-e period will tell, by no means granted. 
The very reign of Peace was begun on earth ; 
and to crown all — to crown the civil Plantation, 
the dearest wish of Chichester, and the profound 

" Leland, vol. 2, p,J^ Google 



THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 249 

perfidy of the Recusant party of the Pale — Sir 
John £verard, the discharged Chief Justice, the 
miserable stipendiary of his oppressors, brought 
in the Bill of Attainder of Cahir O'Dogherty, 
Hugh O'Neill, and Roderick O'Donnell. 

This Bill of Attainder was passed unani- 
mously ; yet the Commons' journak tell us ** that 
doubts arose in some scrupulous consciences (as 
well they might) that Tyrowen was oppressed ; 
that he complained and was not redressed, and 
was therefore obliged to fly out ;" which doubts 
were answered by the pithy moral — *^ that, for re- 
ligion and justice no maoQ ought to rise against 
the Prince ; .and that the law of resisting force 
by force took place only where there .was a pa- 
rity, not otherwise ;"* which good reason, though 
they might not have understood, did entirely con- 
vince them. And so the Bill passed. 

But what matters this wretched Bill to that 
Princely heart ? Languidly it beats near .the 
grave Italian hands must smoothen o*ex^ the last 
chieftain of Tyrowen. In darkened peace it 
awaits the shadow of Death, which now cometh 
quickly on.f 

Thus was formally authenticated the Planta- 
tion of Ulster, and thus consummated the- most 
abandoned scheme of national ruin and confisca- 
tion that ever was devised by avaricious iniquity, 
and perpetrated by triumphant fraud. Its fruits, 
many and bitter, took not long in ripening ; the 



* ** Commons' Journals,'* vol. 1, fol. 16. j 

t Hugh O'Neill died ** with darkened w^es and soul" J 

at Home, A. D. 1616. Digitized by Goode J 

p3 



250 THE CONFISCATION OF ULSTER. 

elements of deadly discord were matched too 
well, and were too contiguous not to produce the 
fatalest effects ; and the terrible but natural pro- 
geny of the pacification of Munster, and the 
settlement of James was the great Rebellion of 
1641.* 



* It is usually called by English writers — from Milton 
to Carlyle, two men of great genius, but very iudiflferent 
authority on Irish affairs — a Popish Massacre. The lat- 
ter, who records in gorgeous language the murders of 
Cromwell as the results of a certain vague, divine and 
amiable instinct, and by no means calls them by their 
proper name, takes this massacre for granted as a Popish 
outrising and enormity. It was not so. It was a war 
by a nation of injured men against robbers who had 
driven them from the inheritance of their fathers, and 
usurped tiieir places. So far it was a just war, for Wrong 
can never be made Right hy any form of words or acts 
of Parliament; but it became a massacre only when mu- 
tual acts of cruelty provoked the two fiercest passions of 
man, love of property and religious fanaticism. To 
which of the two parties can be attributed the first acts 
of murder, it is difficult to decide ; but when I remooaber 
the conduct of the English in Ireland, and of those whom 
tliey settled here, their inordinate and *savage cruelty, 
their habitual disregard of life and all its ties, their mur- 
ders, their hiumings, their infanticides and woman kilU 
ings, I fully and entirely believe ^at it was by ttom 
first that war was turned into a butchery. 



d by Google 



J 



261 



APPENDIX I. 

This Proclamation is extant among the MSS. of the 
Lambeth Library, M. No. 617, p. 96, whence Leland 
o(^ied it : — 

BY THE KING. 

A PR0CI.AMATIOM TOUCHING THE EARLE8 OF TYBOWEN 
AND TYRCONNEL. 

Seeinq it is common and natural in all persons of what 
4x>ndition soever, to speak and jndge variably of all new 
and sadden accidents ; and that the flights of the Earles 
of Tyrowen ^ and Tyrconnel, with some others of their 
f(^owes out of l^e north parts of our realme of Ireland, 
may haply prove a subject of Uke discourse : We have 
thought it not 'amiss to deliver some such matter in 
publique, as may better cleare men's judgements con^ 
ceming l^e same ; not in respect of any worth or value 
in these men's persons, being base and rude in their ori- 
ginall, but to take away all such inconveniences as may 
blemish the reputation of that friendship, which ought 
to be mutually observed betweene us and other princes. 
Por although it is not unlikely that the report of their 
litles and dignities may draw from princes and states 
some such courtesies at their first coming abroad, as are 
incident to men of extraordinary rancke and qualltie: 
yet, when wee have taken the best meanes wee can to 
lay them open in every condition, wee shall then expect 
from our friends and neighbours all such just and noble 
proceedings as stand with the rules of houOT and friend- 



252 Arp£ifDix. 

ship, and from our subjects, at home and abroad, that 
duety and obedience (in their carriage toward them) 
which they owe to us by inseparable bonds and obliga- 
tions of nature and loyaltie, whereof wee intend to take 
streight accompt. For which purpose, wee do hereby 
first declare, that these persons abovementioned had not 
their creations or possessions in regard of any Uneall or 
lawfull descent firom ancestors of blood or vertue ; but 
were onely preferred by the late queene our sister of 
famous memory, and by ourselves, for some reasons of 
state before others, who for their qualitie and birth 
(in those provinces where they dwell) might better have 
challenged those honours whidi were conferred upon 
them. Secondly, wee doe profess, that it is both knowen 
to us and our counsel! here, and to our depulie and tstate 
there, and so shall it appeare to the world (as dearer as 
the sunne) by evident pnx^es, that the onely ^^ouad 
and motive of this high contempt in these men's depar- 
ture, hath been the private knowledge and inward tei- 
rour of their owne guiltinesse: whereof^ because wee 
heare that they doe seeke to take away the blot and 
infamie, by divulging that they have withdrawen them- 
selves for matter of religion (a cloake that serves too 
much in these dayes to cover many evill intentions) : 
adding also thereunto, some other vaine pretexts of 
receiving injustice, when their rights and daims have 
come in question betweene them and us, or any of our 
subjects and them, wee think it not impertinent to ai^ 
somewhat thereof. 

And therefore, alttiough wee judge it needlesse to 
seeke for many arguments to confirm whatsoever shaU 
be said of these men's corruption and Msehood — (whose 
hainous offences remaine so fresh in memorie, since thej 
declared themselves so very monsters in nature, as they 
did not only withdraw themselves from their personftU 
obedience to their soveraigne, but were content to seU 
over their native countrey, to those that stood «t thst 
time in the highest terms of hostilitie with the *^w> 
crownes of England and Ireland) — ^yet, to make the ab- 
surditie and ingratitude of the allegations abovemciK 
tioned, so much the more cleare to all men of eqimft 
judgment, wee doe hereby profe8f^,iJ^y^(5g}^ of a. 



APPENDIX. 253 

kinge, that there never was so much as any shadowe of 
molestation, nor purpose of proceeding in any degree 
against them for matter concerning religion. Such being 
their condition and profession, to thinke murder no 
fault, marriage of no use, nor any man worthy to be 
esteemed valiant that did not glorie in rapine and op- 
pression ; as we should have thought it an unreasonable 
thing to trouble them for any different point in religion, 
before any man could perceive by their conversation that 
they made truely conscience of any religion. So do wee also, 
for the second part of their excuse, affirme that (notwith- 
standing all that they can claime, must be acknowledged 
to proceed from meere grace upon their submission a^r 
their great and unnatural treasons^ there hath never 
come any question concerning their nghts or possessions, 
wherein wee have not bene more inclinable to doe them 
favour than to any of their competitours, except in those 
cases wherein wee have plainly discerned that their 
onely end was to have made themselves by degrees more 
able, than now they are, to resist all lawfull authoritie 
(when they should retume to their vomit againe) by 
usurping a power over other good subjects of ours, that 
dwell among them, better borne than they, and utterly 
disclaiming from any dependancie upon them. 

Having now delivered thus much concerning these 
men's estates and their proceedings, wee will onely end 
with this conclusion, that they shal not be able to denie, 
whensoever they should dare to present themselves be- 
fore the seate of justice, that they have (before the 
running out of our kingdom) not onely entered into 
combination for stirring sedition and intestine rebellion, 
but have directed divers instruments, as well priestes as 
others, to make offers to foreine states and princes (if 
they had bene as ready to receive them) of their readi- 
nesse and resolution to adhere to them whensoever they 
should seeke to invade that kingdome. Wherein, 
amongst other things, this is not to be forgotten, that 
under the condition of being made free from English 
government, they resolved also to comprehend the utter 
extirpation of all those subjects that are nowe ronaynlng 
aUve within that kingdome, formerly descended from 
tbe Eng^h race. In which practices and^^positions. 



254 APPENDIX. 

followed and fomented by piiestes and Jesuites (of whose 
function \n these times the practise and |>erswa8ion of 
subjects to rebell against their soveraignes, is one special 
and essential part and portion)* as they have found no 
such incouragement as they expected and have boasted 
of; so wee doe assure ourselves, that when this declara- 
tion shall be scene and duely weighed with all due cir- 
cuipstances, it will bee of force sufficient to disperse and 
to discredit all such untrueths, as these contemptible 
creatures, so full of infidelity and ingratitude, shall 
disgorge against us, and our ju9t and moderate proceed- 
ing ; and shall procure unto them no better usage than 
they would wish should be afforded to any such packe 
of rebels, borne their subjects, and bound unto them in 
so many and so great obligations. 



Given at oar palace of Westminster, tbe fifteenth day ef Kownber, 
in tlie fifth yeero of ow relgne of €b'eat ftritain, Fnaoe, and 



OOD SAVE THE KIKG. 



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265 



APPENDIX II. 

^97TER OF DONALD o'nEILL, KING OF ULSTEB, TO 
^OHlf, SOTBREIGN PONTIFF, WRITTEN ABOUT 1329. 

To OUT Most Holy Father, John, by the grace of God, 
BOTereign pontiff, we, hia faithful children in Christ 
Jesus, Donald O'Neill, king of Ulster, and lawful heir 
to the throne of Ireland; the nobles and great men, 
with all the people of this kingdom, recommend and 
humbly cast ourselyes at his feet, &c. 

The calumnies and false representations which have 
"been heaped upon us by the English are too well known 
throughout the wOTld, not to have reached the ears of 
your Holiness. We are persuaded, most Holy Father, 
that your intentions are most pure and upright; but 
firom not knowing the Irish except through the misre- 
pvesmitation of their enemies, your holiness might be 
induoed to look upon as truths those falsehoods which 
have been circulated, and to form an opinion contrary 
to what we merit, which would be to us a great misfor- 
tune. It is, therefore, to save our country against such 
imputations, that we have come to the resolution of 
giving to your Holiness, in this letter, a feithful de- 
scription, and a true and precise idea of the real state at 
present of our monarchy, if this term can be still applied 
to the sad remains of a kingdom which has groaned so 
long beneath the tyranny of the kings of England, and 
that of their ministers and barons, some of whom, though 
bom in our island, continue to exercise over us the same 
extortions, rapine, and cruelties as their ancestors before 
them have committed. We shall advance nothing but 
the truth, and we humbly hope that, attentive to its 
voice, your Holiness will not delay to express your dis- 
approbation against the authors of those crimes and 
outrages which shall be revealed. The country in which 
we live was uninhaUted until the three sons-^a Spanish 

Digitized by VjD' 



256 AFPENDIX. 

prince, named Milesius, accor^Ung to others Mioeliii8» 
landed in it with a fleet of thirty ships. They came 
here from Cantabria, a city on the Ebro, from which 
river they called ^ the country to which Providence 
guided them, Ibernia, where they founded a monarchy 
that embraced the entire of the island. Their descend- 
ants, who never sullied the purity of their blood by a 
foreign alliance, have furnished one hundred and tiiirty 
kings, who, during the space of three thousand five 
hundred years and upwards, have successively filled the 
throne of Ireland till the time of King Legarius, fitnn 
whom he, who has the honour of affirming these facts, is 
descended in a direct line. It was under the reign of 
this prince, in the year 435, that our patron and chief 
apostle, St. Patrick^ was sent to us by Pope Celestinus, 
one of your predecessors ; and since the conversion of 
the kingdom through the preaching of that g^^eat saint, 
we have had, till 1 170, an uninterrupted succession of 
SLxty-one kings, descended from the purest blood of Mi- 
lesius, who, well instructed in the duties of their religion, 
and faithful to their Ood, have proved themselves Others 
of their people, and have shown by their conduct that, 
although they depended in a spiritual light upon the 
holy apostolical see of Home, they never acknowledged 
any temporal master upon earth. It is to those. Milesian 
pnnces, and not to the English or any other foreignu^, 
that the church of Ireland is indebted for those lands, 
possessions, and high privileges, with which the pious 
liberality of our monarchs enriched it, and of which it 
has been almost stripped, through the sacrilegious cupi- 
dity of the English. During the course of so many cen- 
turies, our sovereigns, jealous of their independence, 
preserved it unimpaired. Attacked more than once by 
foreign powers, they were never wanting in either cou- 
rage or strength to repel the invaders, and secure their 
inheritance from insult. But that which they effected 
against force, they failed to accomplish in opposition to 
the will of the sovereign pontiff. His .holiness Pope 
Adrian, to whose other great qualities we bear testi- 
mony, was by birth an Englishman, but still mOTe in 
heart and disposition. The national prejudices he had 
early jmbibed, blinded him to such a degree thajr, on a 



APPENDIX. 257 

most false and unjust statement, he determined to trans- 
fer the sovereignty of our country to Henry, king of 
England, under whom, and i>erhaps by whom, St. Tho- 
mas of Canterbury had been murdered for his zeal in 
defending the interests of the church. Instead of punish- 
ing this prince as his crime merited, and depriving him 
of his own territories, the complaisant pontiff has torn 
ours from us to gratify his countryman, Henry II. : and, 
without pretext or offence on our part, or any apparent 
motive on his own, has stripped us by the most flagrant 
injustice of the rights of our crown, and left us a prey 
to men, or rather to monsters, who are unparalleled in 
cruelty. More cunning than foxes, and more ravenous 
than wolves, they surprise and devour us ; and if some- 
times we escape their fury, it is only to drag on, in the 
most disgraceful slavery, the wretched remains of a life 
more intolerable to us than death itself. When, in 
virtue of the donation which has been mentioned, the 
English appeared for the first time in this coimtry, they 
exhibited every mark of zeal and piety ; and exceUing 
as they did in every species of hypocrisy, they neglected 
nothing to supplant and undermine us imperceptibly. 
Emboldened from their first successes, they soon re- 
moved the mask; and without any right but that of 
pow«r, they obliged us, by open force, to give up to 
them our houses and our lands, and to seek shelter, 
like wild beasts, upon the mountains, in woods, marshes, 
and caves. Even there, we have not been secure against 
their fury ; they even envy us those dreary and terrible 
abodes; they are incessant and unremitting in their- 
pursuits after us, endeavouring to chase us from among 
them ; they lay claim to every place in which they can 
discover us, with unwarranted audacity and injustice ; 
they allege that the whole kingdom belongs to them of 
right, and that an Irishman has no longer a right to 
remain in own his country. From these causes arise the 
V implacable hatred and dreadful animosity of the English 
and the Irish, towards each other ; that continued hos- 
tility, those bloody retaliations and innumerable massa- 
cres, in which, from^he inv^ion of the English to tlie 
present time, more than fifty thousand lives have been 
lost on both sides, besides those who have fallen victims 



258 APPBwmx- 

to hunger, to despsir, and to tiw wigoom oi capttritf . 
Hawe t^ spriBg all tbe {nUaging, robbery, treachery^, 
treason and other disorders which it is imi>oattble f<Mr ui 
to allay in the state of anarchy under which at pres^ 
we live ; an anarchy fatal not only to the state, but like- 
wise to the church of Ireland, whose memba« are now, 
more than ever, exposed to tiie danger of losing the 
blessings of eternity^ after being first deprived of those 
of this world. BehoM, most holy fatd^, a brief de* 
seripdon ci£ all tiiat has reference to our <nrigin, and tbe 
miserable condition to which your predecessor has 
brought us. We i^all now inform yoinr holiness of the 
manner in which we have been tr^ftted by the fcui^s of 
England. The permission of entering ^s Idngdom, 
was granted by the holy see to Henry II. and Ms «iie« 
cessors, only on certain conditions, which were Nearly 
expressed in the bull which was given tiiem. Acoord- 
ing to the tenor of it, Henry engaged to kicreaae tile 
church revenues in Ir^and; to maintain it in ftU iti 
rights and privileges ; to labour by enacting good law% 
in reforming the monds of the people, eradicating Ticei 
and encouraging virtue ; and finally, to pay to the sue*, 
cessors of St. Peter an imnual tribute of one peifiiy idt 
each houfie. Such were the conditions of the bull. But 
the kings of England and their perfidious miniBters, se 
far from observing t±Lem» have uniformly oon^ved te 
violate them in every way, md to act in direct iipposi*- 
tion to them. First, as to the church lands, ^Dstmd of 
extending their boundaries, they have ocmtracted, «in> 
tailed, and invaded them so generally and to «ucka de» 
gree, that some of our cathedrals have be^i d^nived, 
by open force* of more than one-half of their rttvesues. 
The persons of the clergy have been as littiie reipeded as 
their property. On every side we behc^ faisM^' and 
prelates summoned, arrested, and imprisoned by the 
commissioners of the king of England ; and so grdat is 
the oppression exercised over them, that they dare (not 
give information of it to your hdiness. Howev^l at 
they are so dastardly as to conceal their misfbr^Hies 
and those of the church, they do not merit tbat.wtt 
should speak in l^eir behsdf. The Irish w«re re- 
markable for their candour and simplicity; but tt« 



APPENDIX. 259 

English hare undertaken to reform us, and have 
been unfortunately but too successful. Instead of 
being, like our ancestors, simple and candid, we 
hare^become, through our intercourse with the Eng- 
lish,* and the contagion of their example, artful and 
designing as themselves. Our laws were written^ and 
formed a body of ri^t, according to which our country 
was governed. However, with the exception ci one 
alone, which they could not wrest from us, they have 
deprived us of those salutary laws, and have given us 
instead a code of their own making. Great God ! such 
laws ! If inhumanity and injustice were leagued toge- 
ther, none could have been devised taoxe deadly and 
fatal to the Irish. The following will give you/ holiness 
some idea of thteir new code. They are the f^mdamental 
rules of English jurisdic^on establk^ed in this kingdom : 

Ist — ^Every man who is not Irish^ may, for any kind 
of crime, go to law with any Irishman, whilst neither 
layman nor ecclesiastic, who is Irish, (prelates excepted,) 
can, under any cause or provocation, resort to any iegai 
measures against his En^sh opponent. 

2d — If an Englishman kiU an Irishman perfidiou^y 
WE^ falsely, as ftiqircntly occurs, of whatsoever rank or 
condition tiie Irishman may be, noble or plebeian, inno- 
cent or guilty, clergjrman or layman, secular or regular, 
were he eveh a bishop, the crime is not punishable be- 
fore our English tribunal; but on the contrary, the more 
tiie sufiRsrer has been distinguished among his country, 
men, either for his virtue or his rank, the more the 
assassin is extdled and rewarded by the English, and 
that not only by the vulgar, Init by the monks, bishops, 
and what is more incr^lible, by the very magistrates, 
whose duty it is to punish and repress crime. 

2d — If any Irishwomim whosoever, whether noble or 
plebeian, marry an Englishman, on the death of her 
husband she becomes deprived^ ftom her being Irish, of 
a thiard of the property and possessions which he owned. 

4th — ^If an Irishman fall beneath the blows of an 
Eoglishman, the latter can prevent the vanquished from 
miking any testamentary deposition, and may likewise 
take possession of all his wealth. What can be more 
ui^iWtiSable than a law which deprives the- church of 

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260 APPENDIX. 

its rights, and reduces men, who had been free from 
time immemorial, to the rank of slaves ? 

5th — The same tribunal, with the co-operation and 
connivance of some English bishops, at which the arch- 
bishop of Armagh presided, a man who was but little 
esteemed for his conduct, and still less for his learning, 
made the following regulations at Kilkenny, which are 
not less absurd in their import than in their form. The 
court, say they, after deliberating together, prohibits all 
religious communities, in that part of Ireland of which 
the English are in peaceful possession, to admit any into 
them but a native of England, under a penalty of being 
treated by the king of Englaiid, as having contemned 
his orders, and by the founders and admhiistraton of 
the said communities, as disobedient and refractory to 
the present regulation. This regulation was little needed ; 
before, as well as since its enactment, the English Do- 
minicans, Franciscans, Benedictines, regular canons, and 
all the other communities of their countrymen, observed 
tiie spirit of it but too faithfully. In the choice of their 
inmates they have evinced a partiality, the more shame* 
ful, as the houses for Benedictines and canons, where 
the Irish are now denied admittance, were intended by 
their founders to be asylums open to people of every 
nation indiscriminately. Vice was to be eradicated ^m 
amongst us, and the seeds of virtue sown. Oar re- 
formers have acted in a way diametrically opposite; 
they have deprived us of our virtues, and have implanted 
their vices amongst us, &c, &c, ^, 



THE END, 



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